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WELDED LINKS. 



WELDED LINKS. 



BY / 

R ANNETTA PECKHAM. 



Morning awaking illumines the scene 
Where death had been reigning, angels convene. 
And in their chaste robes, to Mar)', proclaim 
The links are all welded in life's golden 
chain. 



NEIV, REVISED EDITION. 



NEW YORK: 



Published by P. Annetta Peckham. 



1898. 

2nd COPY, 
1898. 



/9^9,-. a x^ 



Y5^ 






<t°\'^ 



6708 



Entered according to Act of Congress in the year 1898 

By r. ANNETTA PECKHAM, 

In the office of the Librarian of Congress, at Washington. 



DEDICATION. 

Lovingly and respectfully I dedicate " Welded Links"" to 

M V ]\I O T H E R , 

!Mrs. Roxenath Benedict Hitchcox, 

of Apulia^ Onondaga Co., New York, daughter of a Revolu- 
tionary Patriot, inheriting froju him the sterling qualities of 
virtue which gained our independence as a N'ation^ combined 
with rare gentleness of nature, and a reliant faith and trust in 
the loving kindness and goodness of God enabled her to be an 
efficient, faithful and loving mother. Seventy and seven sum- 
mers have not dimmed the full vigor of her health and intellect; 
loved, respected and revered by all who knoio her. 

Ihrough her protecting (Bgis, gentle reader, for the first time 
L essay to minister to thy wants and pleasures. 

Not unmindful of the perils that environ the adventurer upon 
the sea of Poesy, I have launched this frail little bark, assured 
that a generous public will accord it all the protection it deserves. 

Lf it stem the tide of adverse criticism, and find safe harbor 
in the hearts of those who read it, the gratification of the author 
will be intensified, -with the sweet assurance of the approval of 
her to whom these lines are dedicated, ami stimulated to another 
voyage nmyhap in a larger vessel. 

P. ANN ETTA PECK HAM. 



INDEX. 

PAGE. 

Broken Links, ........ g 

Gone and Left Us, . . ^ ^ . ^ _ . 14 

Have We Treasures in Heaven, -..--- 16 

The Old Home, -..-..- = - 18 

Only a Drunkard, - - 21 

Contentment, ---------- 23 

Abba Father, - - 25 

They Have Borne Away Mv Treasure, - - - - 27 

Sinai, ----- 29 

Where to Lay Me when I Die, 31 

Life Harmonic, -33 

Loved and Lost, - - - - 36 

Song of the Blind, -------- 38 

My Sister, - - 40 

Let There be Light, - - 43 

The Sewing Girl, - 47 

A Mother's Lament, -------- 50 

Magdalena, - 53 

A Common Heritage, - - 56 



VI INDEX. 

PAGE. 

The Origin of Life, 59 

In Memoriam, - - - 6i 

At a Dilapidated Grave in Lone Mountain, - - - 63 

Mother, ------ 65 

Can I BE Fickle, - - - - 67 

Things to Avoid, --70 

Our Darling, 72 

A Wife's Plea, ■ - - - 75 

My Father's Grave, - - - - - - - - 79 

The Outcast, - - • - 81 

I Wish I were Dead, - 87 

California, 90 

Another Outcast, - - - 91 

To a Friend, 93 

Christmas, " * 95 

To A Husband, ......... gy 

The Foundling, ......... (^g 

Three Links — Resignation, Faith and Hope, - - - 104 

To Masonry, - - - - - - - - - - jo6 

Retrospection and Annunciation, - - - - - no 

Woman, - - - - - 113 

Night, - - - - - - - - - - - 117 

Cast Your Bread upon the Waters, ----- 120 



INDEX. Vll 

PAGE 

Solar Rays, . , , , , 124 

Decoration Day, . ^ . - , - 126 

Dedicated to the Author of Teuchsa Grondie, 129 

Changing Seasons, . . . . . 131 

Proverb, ...^ 5^2 

To A Pansy, = «.„ i^^ 

Never Failing Guide, --.-. = ^ ^ 1^6 

An Only Son, -..... = „- 1^9 

Maxim, .. = = 141 

Nothing but Ashes, - - - 142 

First Great Cause, - - - 147 

Sabbath, ----------- i^o 

Nothing Lost, - - - - - - - - - 152 

The Serpent of the Still, ----.-- 155 

God is Love, - - - - - - - - ■■ 158 

Memorial to Cousin Anna, ----... 161 

At My Mother's Grave, - - 162 

Poor Mable Gray, --.-.-.. 163 

Eulogy on Flowers, --.--... 165 

Woman's Work, - - - 166 

Our Resurrected Dead, . . . - - - 169 

God in Nature, ------ - . jy-^ 

American Slaves, - - - - - - - - 178 



Vlll INDEX. 

PAGE. 

In Memory of H. C. K, - - •• - - ■ - i8i 

Woman's Appeal, 183 

Upper Columbia River, - - - - - ~ - 185 

Our Country, ........ 188 

Nature's Offering, J93 

Little Lost Boy, ..-.-.-.. ig6 

Motto, - . . , . igg 

Is THERE NO GOD ? igg 

Social Glass, 200 

Query, 203 

Pap-pa Come Home Again, 204 

Maxim, - 208 

Song of Warning, 209 

Maxim, - - - - - - - - - . -211 

The Prodigal's Song, 212 

One of God's Days, -213 

A True Story — George and His Bottle, - - - - 217 
Maxim, - - - - = - = „ . -220 

Destiny, 221 

Mystic Station, 226 

Rum-seller, .----..._ 228 

Rum and its Victims, ------,. 232 



INDEX. IX 



PAGE 



DiviNEST Plan, -..,.... 239 

To A Reckless Young Man on the Death of His 

Mother, - .-.-.__ 240 

'Tis True, --....-.. 242 

" Wine is a Mocker," 243 

Have Revelations Ceased ? ... 267 

Epitaph, - _ . . 283 

Two Angels, --------- 284 

God, 286 

Timely Wisdom, - 288 

Memory, 290 

The Wind that Blows, that Wind is Best, - - 294 
Introductory Remarks at Memorial Service of 

Frances E. Willard, 296 



AUTHOR'S NOTE. 

These poems were first given to the public in 1875, ^ 
second issue appearing in 1891. The favor with wliicli they 
have been received in the past, as testified to in the press 
notices printed at the end of the volume, encourages the 
author to put forth this new, revised, and extended edition, 
in the hope that, having the same cordial reception accorded 
tliem, they may prove balm to wounded hearts and a light 
to the feet of the weary in life's pilgrimage. 



BROKEN LINKS. 



1^# OWN in the valley, so humble and low, 



pJ|i Where the cool, purling streamlets limpidly flow. 
^F Sad hearts are sighing from memory's refrain, 
f For the links that are broken in lifers golden 
chain. 



Up on the mountains, ambition is rife. 
And hearts are aglow with fervor and strife ; 
There, souls are weeping with anguish and pain. 
For the links that are broken, in life's golden 
chain. 



lO WELDED LINKS. 

In hovel and palace alike there Is woe, 
Death, on his mission, doth everywhere go ; 
No place so hallowed, but that there is pain, 
For the links that are broken, in life's golden 
chain. 



All over the land, wherever we roam, 
Or wherever man shall find him a home, 
Till the ending of time, he will complain 
For the links that are broken, in life's golden 
chain. 



God of our Fathers ! oh give us that rest, 
Where we may gather again to our breast, 
Each of our loved ones, so cruelly slain, 
And count the links perfect, in life's golden 
chain. 



BROKEN LINKS. I I 

Eve, in affliction, bowed down in her grief, 
Her only adornment a simple fig leaf; 
And in her bereavement, how sadly complained, 
For the links that were broken, in life's golden 



She heard in the breath of the soft summer breeze, 
Waftinor a messao-e through fairest of trees — 

o o o 

A shriek of distress, from over the plain, 
For the link that was broken, in life's golden 
chain. 



Her offspring dishonored, humbled in pride. 
While dark crimson stains his conscience had dyed, 
And nature caught up the echoing strain. 
For the link that was broken in life's golden 
chain. 



T2 WELDED LINKS. 

And bearing- its tones through ambient air, 
Heaven heard the echo and wail of despair, 
And swift from His throne the Infinite came, 
For the link that was broken in life's golden 
chain. 

Down through the ages, the cycles of time 
Have borne on their pinions in every clime. 
Echoes from Eden, fresh freighted with pain, 
For the links that were broken in life's eolden 
chain. 

Again, in a garden, the mightiest wail 
Which could the high courts of Heaven assail, 
Was wrung from the Son of God in His pain, 
For the link that seemed broken in life's orolden 
chain. 



BROKEN LINKS. 1 3 

So great was the anguish, earth felt the pain, 
And in her convulsions rocks rended in twain, 
And a pall hung o'er creation again, 
For the link that was broken in life's golden 
chain. 

Morning, awaking, illumines the scene, 
Where death had been reigning, angels convene. 
And in their chaste robes, to Mary, proclaim, 
The links are all welded in life's o;olden 
chain. 



14 



WELDED LINKS. 



GONE AND LEFT US. 



^ 



^if ONE, yes, he has gone, and left us, 



j^ 



^M In this world of pain and woe ; 
Gone to join the hosts of Heaven, 
Where eternal pleasures flow. 

He has passed death's pearly portals, 
Passed the sentry at the gate, 

Passed into the life elysian. 
Where attendino- angels wait. 

There, the soul advances higher 
In each noble thought and aim; 

And the music of the lyre, 
Is the progress we attain. 



GONE AND LEFT US. 1$ 

Happy they, who've passed death's portals — 

Happy all who've gone before; 
Death is but the open gate-way — 

To the joys of Heaven the door. 

Death, the kindly friend of mortals, 
Is no foe we should berate; 
He gives a palace for a hovel. 
For filthy rags, a grand estate. 

He puts a crown on every forehead — 
A crown of bliss, that all can wear ; 
For in our Heavenly Father's mansion 
Every child may have a share. 

Then let us all, with kindly feeling, 

Pity each the other's woe ; 
And for every brother's error 

Let us great compassion show. 



r6 WELDED LINKS. 



HAVE WE TREASURES IN HEAVEN? 



l^lAVE we treasures in Heaven, laid up in store, 
^ ^^^ 'Gainst the time when earth shall know us no more'^ 



^ 'Gainst the time when a summons shall call us away, 
To leave with our form but perishing clay? 
Have we treasures in Heaven? 



Have we treasures in Heaven, mortals of earth — 
Treasures awaiting our spiritual birth? 
Treasures so precious, and of value so rare, 
Their worth shall conquer the fears of despair? 
Have we treasures in Heaven? 



HAVE WE TREASURES IN HEAVEN. I 7 

Have we treasures in Heaven? What have we done, 
To cause in our passport the welcome word "come"? 
Have we wiped off the tear from sorrowful eye? 
Or cheered the dark pathway of any who die? 
Have we treasures in Heaven? 

Have we treasures in Heaven? Comfort we here 
The weak and the weary, who tremble with fear? 
And lift from the heart that's weighed down with care. 
The cause of its grief and cause of despair? 
Have we treasures in Heaven? 

Have we treasures in Heaven? Mortals who weep 
For the loved ones who slumber in death's cold sleep? 
They wait you beyond, in that beautiful clime. 
Where they have overcome the sorrows of time. 
We have treasures in Heaven. 



l8 WELDED LINKS. 



THE OLD HOME. 



*|if^^fe, CAME aofain where once was home 






The rose its perfume shed. 
And liHe3 bloomed along the banks, 
Where water courses sped. 

The fish still played within the brook. 
And swam the pebbles o'er ; 

And birds still sang in every nook, 
The tunes they did of yore. 

The old house sat upon the hill 
The same as when a child ; 

The woodbine clambered o'er the dooij 
Untrained, unkempt, and wild. 



THE OLD HOME. 1 9 

The fence around the sfarden orate 

Was also broken down ; 
The little steps I used to climb 
- Could now nowhere be found. 

I thought the garden was not kept 

Just as it used to be ; 
The trees and shrubs were not well trimmed, 

At least so seemed to me. 

I wandered in the little path 

Up to the kitchen door ; 
A strange cat played upon the mat. 

Strange children on the floor. 

I looked around upon the wall, 

Strange pictures met my gaze ; 

And stranger faces on me looked 
In still more strange amaze. 



20 WELDED LINKS. 

I asked them for the friends I loved, 
In early years gone by : 

These strangers, with averted look, 
And with a half drawn sigh, — 

But pointed to a distant hill. 

Where I some mounds could see 

And hence, the garden is not kept, 
Just as it usea to be. 



ONLY A DRUNKARD. 2 1 



ONLY A DRUNKARD. 



d^^f NLY a drunkard lay down on the track, 
IIMl'Tvvas this that they said, wlien they brought my 
''(^1^- boy back ! 

1^ His body all bleeding, and mangled, and torn ! 
" Only a drunkard, and why should we mourn." 



Only a drunkard ! yet he was my boy. 

Once so sweet and so lovely, filled our hearts all with joy 

So tender was he, so blithe, and so gay, 

I never once thought they'd lead him astray. 

I never could think the rum traffic would kill 
My sweet little boy — as he lay there so still — 
Asleep in his crib by the side of my bed ; 
I never once thought they'd bring him in dead. 



2 2 WELDED LINKS. 

And the papers would say, " was drunk on the track " ! 
All mangled and torn, they've brought my boy back — 
To break my poor heart, and no one can save 
My beautiful boy from a poor drunkard's grave. 

Oh, cruel indeed are the laws that they make. 
Which spoil the dear boys for the revenue's sake. 
Why talk ye of tariff, its value and gain, 
Since your brother is dying in Alcohol's chain ? 

Is man of more value than silver and gold ? 
Then forge not the shackles which round him enfold. 
Sixty thousand a year, and the numbers increase, 
Of the men who go down, finding death a release. 



CONTENTMENT. 23 



CONTENTMENT. 



^al ONTENTMENT'S found in perfect rest, 
^^a Where all the passions of the breast 
Are fully satisfied ; 



? 



5,? 



f No passion, thought, or good to gain, 
No filthy lucre to attain — 

Man sits him down to die. 

Without ambition in our life, 

The world would cease its busy strife, 

And man a slutrs^ard be: 
The fields would ne'er produce their grain, 
Birds never sing a joyful strain, 

Nor children leap for joy. 



24 WELDED LINKS. 

The swelling sea would cease to moan, 
And utter never more a groan 

From out her heaving breast : 
Would never meet the sanded shore, 
With tiny wave or boisterous roar. 

If all were satisfied. 

God never rests, nor stands He still 
In all the workings of His will ; 

The worlds move on apace : 
Sun, moon and stars but circle round, 
As the Infinity hath found 

They best may serve His plan. 

Most wonderful in all this plan 

Of conscious thouo;ht, is restless man, 

With impress of Divinity ; 
And as his Maker does not rest. 
So in man's active, restless breast, 

Contentment is not found. 



ABBA FATHEP 2s 




ABBA FATHER, 

HE illimitable, the incomprehensible, 
Tftjcj^-rx Which we call God, 
'm Filling all space, abiding in all things, 
* Moving the mighty universe — 
Noiseless and unseen ; 
Soul of all things, 
Essence of all life, 
Prime cause of all that was, and is to come 
Whose home ! 
Is In the blade of o^rass 
The trembling leaflet, 
And the boisterous sea. 



26 WELDED LINKS. 

Whose voice ! 
The infant's wail, 
The maiden's song, 
And thunder's loudest crash ; 

Whose breath ! 
May blast the fairest flower ; 

Whose look! 
May wither in an hour : 
Whose love! 
None can compare ; 
Whose name — 
Not knowing what to call, 
Creating each, and ruling all. 
We call him Abba Father. 



THEY HAVE BORNE AWAY MY TREASURE. 2/ 



rHEY HAVE BORNE AWAY MY TREASURE. 

f 






XM&^ 



ft 



HEY have borne away my treasure — 
Borne my treasure far away, 



W- And have left him, cold and lifeless, 
f 
I Where there's naught but common clay, 



They have borne away my treasure, 
Torn him from my fond embrace, 

And I saw him in a casket. 

Like a prison form encased. 

They have borne away my treasure, 
Rudely sundered every tie ; 

Lacerated all the feelings 

Which in human bosoms lie. 



28 WELDED LINKS. 

They have borne away my treasure, 
Mystic forms I could not see — 

Borne him to a blessed Eden, 
Where he only waits for me. 

They have borne away my treasure — 
There are treasures gone before, 

And I know they're waiting for me, 
Waiting on the mystic shore. 



SINAL 29 




SINAI. 



"^ HE vaulted heavens trembled with fear, 



I When God on Sinai appeared, 
' And gave His written law ; 

The earth with dreadful terror shook, 
And Moses dared not even look, 

From whence the voice came forth. 

The sleeping rocks heard his command, 
And passive did not dare to stand 

Before his majesty ; 
They raised their heads, and bowed in fear. 
While on their stolid breasts, appeared 

God's holy written law. 



30 WELDED LINKS. 

The sacred Mount, too, hid her face. 
And trembled in her rocky base. 

When God her bosom pressed; 
She vailed her face in smoke, and fire, 
As louder rung the mystic lyre. 

Throughout eternal space. 

Thunders, and lightning rent the air — ■■ 
God's awful majesty was there — 

Loud blew the trumpet blast ; 
The people quaked with dreadful fear, 
Nor to the mountain dare draw near, 

But moved them far away. 

Darkness obscured each ray of light, 
And, in the smoking mountain height, 

Moses drew near to God ; 
His hiorh behest to him was eiven — 
The law to man, from God in heaven. 

Was eiven on Sinai. 



WHERE TO LAV ME WHEN I DIE. 



31 



WHERE TO LAY ME WHEN I DIE. 




^^ ^^^| OT where gay and gorgeous splendor, 
Rear their palaces around, 
Nor where architectural beauty, 
1^ Decorates the sacred mound. 

But where humble bells are chiming. 
Music sweet doth softly flow, 

Where the birds shall sing their carols. 
Free from sorrow, pain and woe. 



Where the wild flowers shed their fragrance, 

On the summer's balmy air, 
Where there's laughing, limpid streamlets — 

When I die, please lay me there. 



32 WELDED LINKS, 

Lay me where the fragrant flowers, 
Bloom above my lonely head ; 

Where the grass shall wave my welcome- 
Wave a welcome for the dead. 



THE LIFE HARMONIC 33 



THE LIFE HARMONIC 



^^^^If HAT consolation it doth lend, 



i r^^^ k) To know we have a human friend, 

■4^0 

Jk^ Whose impulse is at least in part, 
Accordant with our own. 
How then, we brave the ills of lite. 
Through all the weary, anxious strife, 
Of time's eventful years. 

What hope, what cheer, rise in the soul. 
As we approach the final goal 

Of life's supreme delight ; 
Where human friendship does not end, 
Where friend in concert with a friend, 

Pursue their course toi^ether. 



WELDED LINKS. 

This was the bliss that Eden knew, 
Whose fruits, supernal ever grew 

Upon the tree of life, 
Tis this, that makes the roses bloom, 
And gives to each their sweet perfume. 

That scents the morning air. 

'Tis this, that gives the violet's hue, 
And beauty in the sparkling dew. 

Before the risin^r sun. 
'Tis this that weaves the woof of day, 
And by the sun's effulgent ray 

Dispels the gloom of night. 

'Tis this harmonic life within. 
That compensates for all of sin, 

From which we suffer here ; 
It makes the crooked pathway straight. 
And in the things we loathe, and hate. 

Find something to admire. 



THE LIFE HARMONIC. 35 

It turns the world all upside down 
In theories on whicli we frown 

Still find there's something good. 
Poor Judas served a purpose well, 
And Peter, who a lie did tell, 

Was still beloved of God. 

God's handiwork the worlds proclaim ; 
Twas b)- His fiat that there came 

Each creature into life ; 
And in his sphere each praises God 
As perfectly as they who've trod 

The better walks of life. 



36 WELDED LINKS. 



LOVED AND LOST. 



IRll H 



( H ves ! frhe dearest one I knew — 
U^^^Faded away like morning dew; 



\o 



I saw him sinking hour by hour, 

Yet could not stay death's awful power. 

Our souls like one, were knit together, 
In bonds so strono- that none could sever 
Nor is' there aught of human ill, 
That can such true devotion chill. 

Fierce tempests hurled their rudest blast. 
And in our souls, dark shadows cast. 
Which love, with all her potent power, 
Could not dispel, in that dread hour. 



LOVED AND LOST. 3/ 

Thus Stood we helpless in the gale, 
Which did two loving souls assail ; 
And calmly looked at the frowning sky, 
Which brouQrht but sure destruction n'lQ-h. 

He drew me closer to his breast, 
His lips on mine a kiss impressed. 
And in that last farewell embrace 
My bitter tears bedewed his face. 

With anguish then, my soul was wrung, 
Hopes, to the bitter winds were flung. 
Birds told of sorrow when they sung, 
And life indeed was desolate. 







8 WELDED LINKS. 



SONG OF THE BLIND. 






2s^ 



f H, I am so blind there's no sight in my eyes 
II To give me the light of the beautiful skies, 
^* With their tapestry fine of varying hue, 
I O'erhanging with pictures, and shadings of blue. 
Oh, I am so blind there's no beauty to see, 
And the world is all dark, all darkness to me ; 
I hear the sweet song of the birds in their glee, 
I wonder, and wonder are they singing for me.. 

Do they pity my woe, and know I'm so sad? 
Oh, the birds in the trees are ever so elad, 
But no gladness to me can their sone ever brino- ; 
I'm singing of sadness, of sadness I sing. 



SONG OF THE BLIND. 39 

For the light of the day dawns not on my eyes, 
I wonder what beauty there is in the skies. 
I grope my way round, 'tis the darkness of night, 
And no Hght from the sun dawns iii on my sight. 

Oh, yes, I am sad, I am ever so sad, 
No joy in my song, for I never am glad, 
Thouijh thev tell me that heaven is never so far 
But Jesus can see us wherever we are. 
I'm waiting and waiting for Jesus to come. 
For He will bring with Hini the light of the sun, 
And touching my eyes, like the blind ones of old, 
All the beauty of earth I then shall behold. 



40 WELDED LINKS. 



MY SISTER. 






fY sister was swe-et and charmingly fair 
p^With eyes like diamonds, and light golden hair;, 
^^^"^A Her mouth was encircled with jewels of pearl. 
And she was an artless, and innocent girl. 

My sister was good, none purer than she, 
For she was as pure as Heaven could be ; 
The breath of her soul, was fragrance so sweet,. 
That angels might even bow down at her feet. 

She saw but in man, the good, and the fair, 
Nor dreamed that her soul could taste of despair; 
She thought that the world was an Eden of bliss, 
Nor dreamed that a serpent might lurk in a kiss. 



MY SISTER. 41 

She thouo-lit that the world was the fairest of bowers, 
And had not a thorn mong all its flowers ; 
She dreamed that their fragrance only would shed, 
Like perfume from heaven, a crown on her head. 

She thought that in man was nothing but truth 
And yielded to him all the beauty of youth ; 
Gave up her soul, with all that was fair. 
And reaped but the fruits of bitter despair. 

My sister is scorned, and hissed with contempt — 
This beautiful flower the tempest has bent ; 
Bowed is her head, in the deepest of woe, 
Which into the soul of a woman can flow. 

The rose in her cheek is pale with despair, 
And the light in her eye has faded with care , 
She sees in the world but darkness and gloom, 
And her Eden of bliss turned into a tomb. 



42 WELDED LINKS. 

My sister ! ah who can deny her the name ? 
Where is tlie first one to censure or blame ? 
If Jesus were here, I think He alone 
Might faultlessly cast at my sister a stone. 



LET THERE BE LIGHT. 



A3 



LET THERE BE LIGHT. 




ET there be light ! 
And there was heard, 
A breath along the leaden air 
Which stirred it into life. 
It pierced the deadly, deepest gloom, 
Which made this world a moulderino^ tomb 
Without an occupant. 



Let there be light ! 
And with it came 
Unnumbered forms of every name, 

Fillincr the earth and air; 
And that which just before, had been 
A shapeless, lifeless, useless thing. 
Now bor'e a beauteous form. 



44 WELDED LINKS. 

Let there be light! 
Again was heard ; 
And darkness from its depths was stirred- 

Man came upon the scene: 
A being likened unto God, 
And pure as they who first had trod 
The upper courts of Heaven. 

Let there be light! 
And man was crowned ; 
With solemn stillness all around, 

A fairy creature came: 
Her form was shapely and divine. 
More beautiful than all the kind 

Which peopled earth or Heaven, 

Let there be lieht ! 
Harmonic force, 
In all the beauties of its course, 
Produced a perfect man ; 



LET THERE BE LIGHT. 45 



Though in an humble manger born, 

The Eastern Star the place adorned. 

And shone o'er Nazareth. 



Let there be light ! 
And swiftly came 
From science., and from art a flame 

Wliich set the world aglow ; 
Its silver beams and golden ray 
Dispelled the clouds, and mists away, 
Which shrouded human minds. 



Let there be light ! 
Intolerance fled ; 
And persecution's direful tread 
No more caused dread alarm. 

The reckless, clamorous, thoughtless clan, 
Became as peaceful as a lamb. 
By truth and science led. 



46 WELDED LINKS. 

Let there be light ! 
And from his throne, 
The Demon, which the world had owned 

And worshiped as a God, 
Now, sank into oblivious shade, 
While science truthfully displayed 
A God who rules with love. 



I 



THE SEWING GIRL. 



47 



THE SEWING GIRL. 



I God! she cried, is there no rest? 
No comfort here to find ? 



Lip- And must I thus forever stitch, 
Stitch on until I'm blind ? 



'Twas ten o'clock! a winter's nitrht — 
This poor girl sat and sewed, 

Till blinding- tears her eyes had wet, 
But yet she sewed, she sewed. 



O God ! she said, that bread and fire 
Should be so dearly bought. 

So many stitches one must take, 
And for so little wrought. 



48 WELDED LINKS. 

The deadly paleness in her face, 

Still seemed to grow more white ; 

While the dazzling brightness of her eyes 
Outshone the stars of night. 

Her tears fell fast, but faster still 
Her thread and needle flew. 

Till every flounce was in its place, 

Frills, placed where they were due. 

Thus, pieces lovely garments wrought; 
But lovelier far is she. 
Than brilliant gems, or diadems 
Brouofht from fair India's sea. 



t> 



Her pearly fingers, sylph-like form, 
Would feast an artist's eye. 

While the matchless beauty of her face. 
Would with an ano^el's vie. 



THE SEWING GIRL. 49 

But yet this fairy creature toils, 

To gain her scanty bread ; 
While poodle dogs in laps are held, 

And bounteously fed. 

O God! she cried, can this be right. 

To heap so much of woe 
On gentle woman's loving heart, 

While dogs are pampered so? 

She would not 'gainst God's law rebel, 

Nor taste unholy bread; 
Although her soul was famishing 

For what to dogs was fed. 

O Angels! should she chance to err — 

God only knows, she may, — 
Let not her scribe who writes in Heaven, 

Keep record of the day. 



50 



WELDED LINKS. 




A MOTHER'S LAMENT. 



MIGHT not with such strength of will 
have loved, 
Could I have known, that direful fate 
would blast 
So sweet, and fair a flower. 

I conned the precious treasure o'er — 

'twas mine. 
And in my heart, laid up full store 

of love, 
For years that might come after. 



A MOTHER'S LAMENT. 5 I 

I watched her every waking" hour 

with joy, 
And thought I ne'er had seen a flower 

so sweet, 
Nor yet one half so pretty. 



No mother's love could be more strono- 

than mine — 
'Twas essence from the love divine 
for one. 
Whom none was more deservino;-. 

She seemed of me to be a part, 

and was 
The sum, and substance of my heart ; 

she made 
My home a blissful Eden. 



5^ WELDED LINKS. 

Yet she did not belong to earth, 

and hence, 
The angels sought her from her birth, 

Heaven 
Was incomplete without her. 

The favored moment came at last, 

and then 
They took my darling, and with her, 

have passed 
Beyond the darksome river. 



MAGDALENA. 53 




MAGDALENA. 



1^ ITH the anguish of her soul's unrest, 
,,v-^<-JAnd hands clasped closely on her breast, 
She raised her longing eyes to Heaven, 
In search of peace, earth hath not given, 



She loneinof looked to the ether blue, 
Where angels seemed herself to view. 
And wondered if their home so bright, 
Mieht eive her soul some ray of licrht. 

And she clearly saw some garments fair. 
Which looked like those she used to wear , 
And with her eyes thus fixed on Heaven, 
A matchless charm to her was griven. 



54 WELDED LINKS. 

Oh, her robes with scarlet stains were full, 

Yet they became as white as wool ; 

And for her anguish and unrest. 

The peace of Heaven possessed her breast 

While looking still to the pearly height, 
Another form appeared in sight. 
Whose bleeding hands, and feet, and side, 
Proclaimed for sinners He had died 

'Twas at the word of His command, 
There came from Heaven a shining band, 
And each one bore a royal crown, 
For such as were with crrief bowed down. 



& 



"Reach forth thy hand, a crown is thine;" 
Were ever words like these sublime? 
"The riofhteous came I not to save." 
But sinners freely He forgave. 



MAGDALENA. 55 



O Magdalene, and sinners all, 
Who from your high estate did fall, 
Here's loving kindness, full and free. 
To wash all guilt from you and me. 

The righteous have no need ot Him 
'Tis only they who've tasted sin, 
For whom our Savior cried — 
"Eloi! Eloi ! Sabachthani !" 
And bowed His head and died. 



56 WELDED LINKS, 



A COMMON HERITAGE. 



I. 



fef XULTANT Monarch! bend your head, 



^ 



ii 



^^^ Why thy proud look and stately tread? 

^W ° • • 

^^ Why thy imperious, haughty will ? 
Thou dost a small commission fill. 

IL 

Wherefore the words of thy command .r* 
Thou art a serf upon the land ; 
And even to thy utmost hour — 
The mandates of a higher power 

IIL 

Shall rule thee with a mightier hand 
Than any power thou canst command ; 
Yea ! even to thy latest breath, 
When holding converse with Kino- Death 



A COMMON HERITAGE. 57 

IV. 

Thou still shalt feel this mighty law 
Before which nations bend in awe ; 
And thou shalt own this power divine, 
And bowing, worship at its shrine. 

V. 

Then, boast not of thy high estate, 
For but one cause thou canst be ereat, 
And that all men may claim. 
'Tis that Jehovah's signet's worn 
By all mankind, however shorn 

Of worldly pomp, and gain. 

VI. 

'Twas by a Master Workman's art, 
That every brow and every heart 
Is more or less divine. 
And man is either great or small, 
As he partakes of what to all, 
An Infinite hath given. 







8 WELDED LINKS. 



VIL 

A common heritage hath all, 
Jehovah God, hath deigned to call 
Each, of mankind His child ; 
And to each one a crown hath given, 
That in the summing up in Heaven 
There might not one be lost. 

vin. 
Then, let oblations rise in praise, 
To Him, who's numbered all our days, 
And made His work complete : 
The richest tribute we can bring. 
Is reverence for our God and Kingr 



t> 



With love for all mankind. 



THE ORIGIN OF LIFE. 



59 



THE ORIGIN OF LIFE. 



\^h 



^^ 






U 



HE race of life, where hath its bound? 
^ Its beginning, where is it found? 

Or whence its course doth flow? 
In what dark age had spirit birth? 
Was it before there was on earth ? 

Or life in empty air? 



What womb of space with pregnant air 
First found intelligence was there. 

And thouofht was brouQfht to life? 
Was it before the shinins: sun's 
Creative li^ht beean to run ? 

Nor moon, nor stars there were? 



6o WELDED LINKS. 

How grand the thought, how deep, how wide; 
How fathomless thou spirit Bride, 

First in the womb of Time: 
Unnumbered ages have grown old, 
Since first the spirit birth was told, 

And God reigned every-where. 

Eternal too, shall be the flow 
Of mystic ages, where we go 

When life's full course is run; 
'Tis not for mortals to divine 
The space in which there is no time, 

And day no night may know. 

There cycles unto cycles roll, 
While countless ages, shall unfold 

7 heir own great truths to man ; 
Infinite space he shall explore 
And traverse every shining shore, 

With God Supreme o'er all. 



IN MEMORIAM. 



6l 



IN MEMORIAM. * 






HAT dread alarm is this I hear? 
fT^^l^What wail is this breaks on my eari 
j|w^>' Hath death, in unexpected hour, 
i 1 Mowed down another lovely flower ? 



And hath the reaper gone his round 
When friendly aid could not be found, 
And w^ith his scythe cut down the lair? 
Was this the wail broke on the air ? 

Was no one there to smooth her brow, 
No one to kiss or comfort now? 
No one to give a word of cheer 
When cruel Death was drawing near ? 



* Of Mrsc E. A. C, who was stricken down in an epileptic fit •'From the bloom of health 
to the pallor of death " at the Russ House, Sau Francisco, May 11th, 1874. 



02 WKl.PKl) 1 INKS. 

No lui^h.md with a lo\ iti>;- heart 
To waul awa\ Death's cruel dart? 
No I'alher ! Mother! Sister dear — 
Did no one then lo her appear? 

No OWQ \ No one! llow can it he 
That one so L;ood and kind as she 
Should die alone? and no one near 
To dissipate her every lear ? 

Though human aid could not he found, 
AngeHc hosts did her sunound; 
And with her passed the loneK vale, 
Where Death can never more assail. 



Then w eep her not ! though sad and drear 
May be vour homes without her here: 
What she has gained, is richer lar 
Than all of earthly treasures are. 



AT A DILAPIDATED GRAVE, 63 



AT A DILAPIDATED GRAVE IN LONE 
MOUNTAIN'. 



^•^H|HOU may'st have struggled long and well 
^Ut^-4 To gain ambition, fame ; 

^' Yet thou hast scarcely left behind 
i The memorv of thv name. 



Is this the end? the final sum 

That man may hope to gain? 
The recompense for all hif^ cares — 
Reward for all his pain? 

A narrow house, so closely built 

That one can't turn him round? 

And even that encased in earth, 
Full six feet under oround? 



64 WELDED LINKS. 

Where creeping worms of slimy form 
May crawl his body o'er ; 

And human friends look on his face, 
Ah ! never, never more? 

Shut out from all the world of light, 
From glory and from fame, 

With single slab above his head, 
On which inscribed his name ? 

If this be all ! the final sum 
That's left us to attain. 

How truly wretched then are we 
How well we may complain. 



MOTHER. 65 



MOTHER. 



^^^^^f HAT name on earth, is there so dear 



^NlMJ) As the sacred name, Mother ? 
jj^P What other word, can have the cheer 
Iy To soothe our brow and dry the tear, 
Like the dear word. Mother ? 

Oh tell me wh^re in Heaven, or Earth, 

Another name is found, 
So filled with hallowed memories 
And with such joyous sound, 

As that dear name. Mother? 

What other name can wanderers hear 

In distant, foreign climes. 
To QTive fresh memories of home 
Like that dear name of tJime, Mother, 
Like that dear name of thine ? 



66 WELDED LINKS. 

What other name can have the power 

To check a wnld career ? 
And lead us back from untouched sin, 
As the name we all revere, 

Of blessed Mother dear ? 

What other. name can melt the heart 
That's hardened been by crime ? 
And give contrition to the soul, 
Like that loved name of thine, Mother, 
Like that loved name of thine? 

Dearest Mother, thy precious name 
Shall fall from lips in prayer; 

That God will keep thee safe from harm, 
And shield thee, every-where, 
And shield thee, every-where. 



CAN I BE FICKLE. 67 



CAN 1 BE FICKLE? 



VE:?^^^^, 



f^K^ EAR one, could I for sure depend 
h^k That thou wouldst love till life should end 
j|Vj^ Its weary pilgrimage, 

I'd seek no other place to rest 
My bruised heart or aching breast, 
But in thy fond embrace. 



I'd look me to no other sky 

Than that in which thy charming eye 

Would give my soul its light ; 
I d look me for no other joy 
Than that which should my soul employ, 

Forever loving thee. 



68 WELDED LINKS. 

I'd twine the tendrils of my heart 

Where thou shouldst share the greater part 

And be my chief delight; 
I'd have one thought, and that of thee, 
That where thou wert, there I might be, 

And from thee never part. 

No breath should cool my heated brow 
But that which did thy love endow, 

And wert of thee a part ; 
No lips should press their nectar sweet 
Where mine, in unison should meet 

Companionship of soul. 

No other voice should charm my ear, 
Be thou soever far or near, 

I still would faithful be ; 
No other form should please my eye. 
For thee, I evermore would sigh 

And loving worship thee. 



CAN I BE FICKLE. 69 



I'd ask no other earthly gain, 
Forego all pleasure, bear all pain 

To share thy love alone ; 
And only fickle would I be. 
When feeliho- thou hast set me free 

In loving yet anothen 



70 WELDED LINKS. 



jafeVa^q't^ 



4^ 



THINGS TO AVOID. 

WO things In life, there's to avoid; 
Their steps, take hold on hell ; 
They'll prey upon your vital force, 
And sound your funeral knell. 

They'll fill your bodies with disease, 
And worse, pollute your soul ; 

They'll rob you of life's happiness, 
Your comfort, and repose. 

They'll sever home, and family ties, 
And give a mortal sting; 

Nor can the smallest solace give. 
For the misery they bring. 



THINGS TO AVOID. 7 1 

Twin Sisters these two vices are, 

They flourish as the rose ; 
They'll stamp their imprint on your face, 

Dishonor on life's close. 

There's no distruise can hide the fact 

If these are chosen friends ; 
Though frailty's weak, she still is strong 

In accomplishing her ends. 



72 



WELDED LINKS. 



OUR DARLING. 



^^f E miss him ! we miss him our darling, 




We miss his sweet prattle and glee; 
♦i|^'' And we long once more to behold him, 
Our darling that's over the sea. 



The cot, and the cradle are empty ; 
The bat, and the ball on the floor, 
And the drum, is still where he left it. 
For Freddie will use them no more. 



The birds, when they sing their sweet carols- 
Sing lonely, and sadly to me; 

And my heart, seems bursting with anguish, 
For Freddie far over the sea. 



OUR DARLING, 73 

The morning now dawns on us sadly, 

Our souls with a weight is oppressed ; 

Our darling, we never may see him 

Nor clasp his loved form to our breast 

The Angels, they came with a whisper — 

So quiet none heard them but he; 
He listened to what they said to him, 
And with them, passed over the sea. 

O Ano-els ! come, once again whisper, 

And this time, please whisper to me; 

And bring me some news from my darling, 
My darling that's over the sea. 

O tell mie, if baby is wishing 

His mamma would come to him soon, 
And if in his beautiful heaven 

For all there is plenty of room. 



74 WELDED LINKS. 

Angels! who cares for my baby? 

Have you a blest seraph so fair 
That, by her sweet, tender caresses, 

He thinks his dear mamma is there? 

1 know that I hear, when I listen. 

Sweet music from over the sea; 
'Tis Angels, a lullaby singing, 
And baby is thinking it's me„ 



A WIFES PLEA. 75 



A WIFE'S PLEA. 



Dedicated to Mrs. Britannia Plinny Powers, of Detroit, Michigan. 



^!'r?||:r EAVE me in the early spring-time, 
%(Wt When all nature's bright and gay; - 

Leave me when the sun in splendor 
Drives the shades of night away. 

Leave me when thine eyes are brightest, 
When the bloom is on thy cheek; 

Leave me when thy perfect manhood 
Health and beauty shall bespeak. 

Leave me when the sky is clearest. 

When life's stars full bright!)- shine; 

Leave me when thou art the dearest; 
Leave me when I'm whollv thine. 



76 



W ELIJED LINKS. 



Leave me when the worhl shall woo me, 
While its charms my soul engage; 

Leave me in m\- health and \'igor; 
Leave me not in crippled age. 

If thou must, O darling, le-ave me, 
Ere the shadows thickl\- fall, 

Leave me when the hlooni of summer 
ALiy bedeck th)' fun'ral })all. 

Leave, oh! leave mv. not, my darling, 

Though the hlossoms hloom or fade; 

Summer suns would pale and darken; 
Deepest gloom ni}^ spirit shade*. 



Death would spread its sahle mantle 
O'er the scenes which I hold dear; 

And though all the world were joyous, 
Mv soul would be a fun'ral bier. 



A wife's plea. 77 

Leave me, darling, leave me never ! 

Fold me in your warm embrace, 
Shield me from life's storms and battles, 

Press me closer to )our face ! 

Leave me not, oh, leave me never! 

Let my heart beat close to thine, 
While your lips with love's sweet fragrance. 

Press their kisses upon mine. 

Leave me not, oh, never ! never ! 

Sever not life's bright golden chain ! 
What were all the joys of Eden 

Should I not thy love retain ' 

Other ones might smile to woo me, 

Other hands extend for mine ; 
But if thou with death wert sleepino-, 

iMy stricken heart would still be thine. 



78 



WELDED LINKS. 

Leave me not, whate're the seasons, 

In bloom of youth or trembhng age ; 

Shine the sun howe'er so brightly, 

Its beams could not my grief assuage. 

Leave me not, oh, darling, never ! 

Ashes may unto ashes turn, — 
But in spirit come thou to me ; 

For I would still thy lorm discern. 



MV FATHERS GRAVE. 79 



MY FATHER'S GRAVE„ 



\^^Wl HAT pang- on earth is there so great, 



fL^^fi;;^^ As that which pierced me sore, 



ItK'^.^ 



P 



When a lovine Father bowed his head 



^3 



And was of eartli no more? 

That pang sank deep into my soul; 

The joyous world seemed drear; 
My heart was wrung with agony, 

Tear followed dil/er tear. 

Fond recollections rise afresh. 

But how their mem'ries sting; 

No loving thought, or word, or deed, 
Can aui-dit of solace brincr. 



So WELDED LINKS. 

Such hopeless grief is this we feel, 
None with it can compare; 

For who may give us back our dead? 
Who lighten our despair? 

The grass shall wave above his tomb ; 

The winds shall moan, and sigh; 
Him shall we never see again, 

Nor feel his presence nigh. 

Autumnal rains nhall shed their tears 
Upon his lonely tomb; 

And winter winds shall sing his dirge 
For ages yet to come. 



THE OUTCAST. 8i 



THE OUTCAST. 



m 



^^ 



Is, HE died all alone, 



^m And no one was near, 
To shed for this Outcast 
A pitying tear, 
Or pillow her comfortless head. 

She died all alone. 

In darkness of night, 
The stars looked down on this 
Pitiable sight — 
In wretchedness, want and in woe. 



82 WELDED LINKS. 

She died all alone ; 

Poor child of despair; 
Was freighted with grief, 
And laden w^ith care — 
Weio-hed down with the oruilt of her soul 

She thought of her home, 
And days of her youth ; 
Unblemished her soul, 
And spotless as truth 
Was her blush, in life's early moriL 

But came there an hour 
When, tempted by sin, 
Like mortal, she fell 
From sin unto sin, 
And drank of the wormwood and oralL 



THE OUTCAST. 

She tasted the dregs 

Of the bottomless pit; 
Cast out from the world — 
A thing, that's unfit 
To mix with the rest of mankind. 



They buffet and hoot 

This child, in her crime: 
More guilty are they 

In eyes just, divine. 
Than she whom thev scorn in her woe. 



Speak kindly to such, 
And lighten their care ; 

Tell them there Is hope 
For those in despair; 



84 WELDED LINKS. 

Tell them, though erring-, 
That they may regain 

Woman's hicrh crownings : 
But which, to attain, 



They must abandon 
The highways of shame. 

And go, crown themsecves 
Pure women ag-aia 



She wandered from home, 

Denying her name; 
She would not pollute 
Her parents' fair fame. 
Nor mantle their cheeks with a blusL 



THE OUTCAST. b; 

She buried her grief, 

And sank in her shame ; 
Down, down to the depths 
She suddenly came, 
And wondered if God was severe. 

She raised up her eyes, 

To offer a prayer, 
But faltered her tongue ; 
'Twas mute with despair. 
Though Aneels were waiting; to save. 

Her prayer was a sigh 

That God would be kind, 
And hide in darkness 
Her sins from her mind. 
And give her composure and rest 



B6 WELDED LINKS 

She loHLied for waters ; 

Stepped into the pool ; 
Drank of the fountain ; 

Was washed and made whole- 
With Anofels drew nearer to God. 

Was heard there a sound 

In Heaven so clear, 
As when this sinner, 
Repentant, drew near. 
To sit at the feet of the Lamb? 

Clothed in new garments, 

With never a stain. 
Came, as a Seraph 

Or bright Angel came — > 
For God is foroj-ivina- to all 



I WISH I WERE DEAD.' 



"I WISH I WERE DEAD." 



^Mi£J 






I WISH I were dead!" 



^fevv^*^ How carelessly said, 
^jp- One bright and early morning-. 

h r. 

Wish to be dead in summer time? 
While life is scarcely in its prime? 
Ere thy sun to noon has risen? 



Wish to be dead ! 

How careless said — 
How lightly it was spoken ; 
The summers' suns have ris'n and set, 
In years but twenty-three, as yet, 
And shone upon your head. 



88 WELDED LINKS. 

Wish to be dead! 

For what wouldst die? 
Hast thou no aim for which to sigh, 
No object yet ere thou shalt die, 
No purpose to attain? 

Wish to be dead ! 

Hast thou fulfilled 
The object of thy Father's will, 
For which He sent thee here? 
Is there no hope, thy soul to thrill — = 
No mission in thy life to fill — 
That thou shouldst wish to die? 

Wish to be dead i 

Ah ! say it not ; 
It cannot be thou hast foro-ot 
There's seed and harvest time: — 



"I WISH I WERE DEAD." 89 

The sun may hide his golden rays, 
But yet there's plentitude of days 
In which to prosper here. 

Wish to be dead ! 
Thou hast no riirht 

o 

To wish that all this world of Vnj-ht 

Were shut from out thy life — 

This precious life thy God hath given; 

And in thy aim if thou hast striven 

To do His purpose well, 

He'll crown thee with immortal life, 

And thou shalt dwell where there's no strife, 

In all the courts of Heaven. 



go 



WELDED LINKS. 



CALIFORNIA. 



W^l Glorious land, 



where the sun sinks to rest 
ijllpp^ in the genial folds of Nature's warm breast; 
Iv And, resting his feet in the pulsating sea, 
I Comes with the morning, all radiant with glee, 
And wooes me back to thy Eden of bliss, 
Where Nature tempts Heaven with her balmiest kiss, 



ANOTHER OUTCAST. QI 



ANOTHER OUTCAST. 






■ „-^^^ NOTHER outcast, orreat God ! here is found, 

MS, 

Jjj^^With naught for her bed but comfortless ground 



'^il? With naught to shelter, or shield her from cold— 
I The buffets of men, and scorn of the world. 



Eyes, once like diamonds, outrivaled the stars; 
Soul, pure as Venus, and lovely as Mars ; 
Moulded her figure, by genius and grace. 
And carved in beauty, each line of her face. 

Pity her. Seraphs, oh, pity! I cried; 
Pity her, Jesus, in sin though she died 1 
Though wandered from home like Prodigal Son- 
Pity her, Father ! she still is Thine own. 



92 WELDED LINKS. 

Oh! save her to-night, though living or dead, 
And, Heaven's pure Angels, shed tears on her head 
Oh ! pity her, God, wherever she's found, 
And let not a curse cry out from the ground. 

Though marked, as was Cain, on forehead and brow 
Once stainless her soul — oh, that it were now! 
Canst Thou not shrive her, dear Lord, as of yore, 
And bid her in peace, go and sin never more? 

Jesus, our Saviour! she's praying to Thee — 

She's heard of Thy love, and dark Calvary ; 

She's heard of Thy groans, and tears Thou didst shec 

For those who in sin and trespass were dead. 

She's heard that Thou lovest and still art with men ; 
Dost love and forgive, though sinners they've been. 
Jesus, forgive her, wash out her stain ; 
Crown her, though fallen. Thy kindred again. 



TO A FRIEND 



93 



TO A FRIEND. 



IpmEM'RY, dear Memory, 
iK^t^i"; E'er faithful and true, 



<^ \ Bring-s a halo of glory 
When thinking- of yoUo 
The past and the present, 

Too full for despair. 
Bid me hope for the future, 

And wrestle with care ; 
Bid me bury the past 

As somethinor that's dead 
Only live for the present, 

Let dead bury the dead. 



94 



WELDED LINKS. 

Yet one press of thy hand, 
One look from thine eye, 
Just one comfortino- word — 

To know that a sigh 
Is upweHing for me — 

Life's ills would dispel 

And brighten the future, 

I'hen tell me, ah! tell. 

If of me thou dost think. 

If still in thy heart 
There remains but one link 
Which binds me to thee. 



CHRISTMAS. 



95 



CHRISTMAS. 



^^j^^T^i- 



/^ 



|: ING out the bells, the merry bells, 



^%v?^. Each joyous Christmas bell ; 
T^f\ Ring out o'er all the happy land, 
Your joyous tidings tell. 



Ring out, ring out with joyous strain. 
Peal forth in loud acclaim ; 

This is the year of jubilee. 
Glad tidings now proclaim. 



Good will and peace reign o'er the land ; 

No warrior's tramp is heard; 
From East to West, from North to South, 

Send forth the joyous word. 



96 



WELDED LINKS. 

Ring out the call, the loving call, 
That summons friends together, 

And there let each in union clasp 
The other as his brother. 

Ring forth, ring forth in every heart, 
Ring forth a song of praise 

To Him. the ever living God, 
The Ancient One of days. 



TO A HUSBAND. 9/ 



TO A HUSBAND. 



':W^|f AY thine eye never shine less brightly than now, 
%\iM^k Nor the rose in th\' cheek become dim, 
/pC'^X Nor furrow eer wrinkle thy fair marble brow, 
Nor a passion prov'oke thee to sin. 



No tempter allure from the home thou hast loved, 
From the wife and the child thou hast blest; 

Ne'er permit any other to pillow her head 
Where the wife of thy bosom should rest. 

Oh, look not on her who would tempt thee to stray, — 
On the form that bewitching, allures; 

She's charms that may last scarce a full, fleeting day, 
And their pleasures may tarnish thy years. 



98 



WELDED LINKS. 



Look not on the wine when it sparkles so red, 
Nor once taste of the full, flowing bowl : 

'Twill lessen the beauty and grace of thy head, 
And the charm of thy generous soul. 



THE FOUNDLING 



99 



THE FOUNDLING. 



^^^|H0SE child is this? 
4^^ The Foundlin<rs' Home 
-9^ Hath found another charge- 

Drlftinir on the sea of life— 
A frail and tiny barge. 



Whose child is this? 
A tender waif 
Bereft of father love ; 

None to guide its little feet, 
Save Him who rules above. 



TOO WELDED LINKS. 

Whose child is this? 

What mother love 
Hath been so turned to stone? 

How could she thus leave her child 
Abandoned and alone? 

Whose child is this? 
Ah ! who can tell 
What sea of human woe 

'Whelmed in sorrow mother love, 
In its divinest flow. 

Whose child is this? 

But here's a card 
Upon the little waif, 

Written in the finest hand 
Which woman's pen could trace. 



THE FOUNDLING. 101 

Upon Its face and on its clothes 

Are sprinkled briny tears, 
Which fell like rain drops, while she prayed 

That all the coming years 
Would save her child from such distress 

As wrung- its mother's heart, 
When forced by utter helplessness 

From her first-born to part. 
What untold anguish caused those tears! 

How rapidly they fell — 
Betraying by their overflow 

A grief no tongue can tell. 
No artist's brush could ever paint 

Such poignancy ot grief, 
No human lips could utter words 

To give her soul relief 
"O God!" she cried in her despair, 

" How can I leave my child? 



I02 WELDED LINKS. 

With contumely I am hissed, 

My brain seems turning- wild ; 
And love has changed to serpents' stings, 

Which mock me in my woe; 
And women shun me in my path, 

As something vile and low. 
Life's sweetest pleasures on my lips 

Hang heavy, like a pall. 
Oh ! why, like Hager, am I left . 

In abandonment to fall? 
And, like her, cast my child away, 

Beyond a mother's care? 
My only offering of love! 

My God ! in mercy spare, 
Oh, spare me from this bitter cup, 

This draught of deepest w^oe. 
Which falls like ice upon my heart, 

And freezes every flow 



THE FOUNDLING. lO^ 

Of life's warm, g-ushing, crimson tide: — 

Upon my frenzied soul 
It casts a cloud as dense and dark 

As did o'er Calvary roll." 
And then, upon her bended knee, 

With babe clasped to her breast. 
Oh ! how she plead with God in Heaven, 

In anguish and unrest, 
That He who feeds the raven's young. 

And hears them when they cry. 
Would not desert her darling child. 

But would be ever nigh. 
And then, ah ! then, how tremblingly 

She turned her wearied quest. 
Where little foundlings have a home. 

And here's another truest. 



I04 



WELDED LINKS. 



THREE LINKS— RESIGNATION, FAITH 
AND HOPE. 




IS as the good ang-els would have It, 



^pK God knoweth and doeth what's best, 
^" And from the dark waves wliich engulf us 



We'll eather sweet comfort and rest 



Deep down in the ocean of sorrow 
Lie hidden full many a goal ; 

We may from Gethsemane borrow 
Rare jewels, as priceless as souls. 



There flows with the blood and tlie water, 
Which gush from humanity's side. 

Such truths as we only may gather 

When the thong and spear are applied. 



THREE LINKS RESIGNATION, FAITH AND HOPE. IO5 

The wine press which mangles and crushes 
Each feeline and thouorht, as it rolls, 

Distils, in its richest profusion, 
The sweetest aroma of souls. 

The thorns which imprint on our foreheads 

The stamps of unutterable \voe, 
Are signets and seals of our Master, 

Whose love never ceases to flow. 

And the cross which all men must carry. 

However so early or late. 
Is a sienal sent to them from Heaven, 

And a pass at death's beautiful gate. 



I GO 



WELDED LINKS- 



TO MASONRY. 




gl E noble men, Free Masons, 
^1- So staunch, and true, and tried, 
Your faith is founded on the Word 
f^ Which good ine^i neer deride. 



Yours is the faith of Abraham, 
Whose precepts were divine; 

And all the teachings of your faith 
Are squared by plumb and line. 



'Twas in the old Jerusalem 
Your Craft was first made known ; 

Your members then were sons of toil. 
Hewers of wood and stona 



TO MASONRY. lO; 

Still later was your Craft confirmed 

By the famous council Troyes; 
Who, in their wisdom, understood 

Your grand and holy laws. 

Then on your altars there was laid 

A holy, sacred volume; 
In it is found your rules of faith, 

Whereon rests every column. 

Then, w^ith foundations firm and strong 

Your columns all upholding. 
Still build upon the Book of books, — 

God's sacred truths unfolding. 

The corner-stones of nations all, 

Bearincr exalted name. 
Arc laid within your mighty Craft, — 

Their principles the same. 



108 WELDED LINKS. 

The churches of the nations, 

Whatever be their name, 
Cannot excel, in all their good, 

The glory of your fame. 

Your hands reach out o'er all the land, 
To help a needy brother ; 

While every orphaned child is thine, 
And every widowed mother. 

Your bonds of faith, insep'rable, 
Bind each one to the other ; 

And you have yet another tie, 

More stronof than that of brother. 



i> 



It wards off sad, impending fate, 
And shields when can't another ; 

This is the tie that binds more strong 
Than brother unto brother. 



TO MASONRY. IO9 

It makes the dark skin as the wlilte; 

The Jew and Gentile brother; 
Here likewise meet the friend and foe, 

And, meeting-, love each other. 

Then, with foundations firm and strong-, 

Your base, God's holy volume. 
Still build upon the Book of books. 

On it rests every column. 



I lo WELDED LINKS. 



RETROSPECTION AND ANNUNCIATION. 



ti^wf HAT are all life's joys and sorrows? 



•?^^& What are all its griefs and pains? 
'4^ What are all its disappointments? 

What its treasures? What its gains? 



Short lived moments, quickly passing, 
Days, that change them into night; 

Hours of pleasure change to sadness, 
Darkness supersedes the light. 

Hopes lie withered, hearts are bleeding; 

Brightest prospects quickly fade; 
Thorns are strewn along our pathway; 

Clouds the brightest sunshine shade. 



RETROSPECTION AND ENUNCIATION. Ill 

But a morn of bright awak'ning, 

Where immortelles deck hill and glade, 

Dawns on our expectant vision, 

Flow'rs bloom there and never fade. 

There we gain life's compensation, 

Sorrows are exchanged for joy; 
Hopes once withered bloom in beauty, 

Pleasures tasted never cloy. 

In that home is life's fruition ; 

Rainbow tints each cloud becurl ; 
And each drop of heart blood anguish 

There becomes a shining pearl. 

Crippled age returns to manhood, 

Steps once feeble now are strong, 
Health and beauty crown each forehead, 

Sobs of sorrow chanfre to sonof. 



112 WELDED LINKS. 

Hallelujahs now re-echo 

All along the sounding shore 

Mortals catch the revibration, 
Welding links forevermore, 



WOMAN, 



113 



WOMAN. 



i 



5 HAT, indeed, art tliou, O Woman? 
^ Heart with tender fibres struni^; 
^^ Love enduring, never failing", 

Though thy soul with sorrow's wrung. 



Though thy prospects all are faded. 

And thy hopes each one decay, 
Thou dost bring thy votive offering, 

Where hope's smouldering ashes lay. 



Thouo'h dishonor crown man's forehead. 

He who should thy glory be, — 
Thou wilt even bear his burthen. 



Never askinof to be free. 



114 



WELDED i^INKS. 

Through life's youth and bloom of summer, 
Through life's bitter sleet and snow, 

Thou dost follow man's meanderings— 
Where he leads thou'lt trusting go. 

Thou art seen in gory battle, 
Thou art seen on ocean's main, 

In thy woman's fond endeavor 
Brother, lover to regain. 

Glorious woman, wife and mother. 
Truest love thy soul doth bear; 

Never shrinking from thy duty, 
Bearing patiently thy care. 

Thou art found, oh, faithful woman, 
Where the fever's scorching pain 

Drinks up all of health and beauty. 
Making mad the burning brain. 



WOMAN. I 15 

There with hand both soft and gentle, 

Ministering- with kindly touch, 
Man doth bless thee as an angel : — 

And, oh woman, thou art such. 

In thy home, dear, priceless woman. 
Thou art man's chief help and friend; 

Thou dost make of life an Eden, — 
This thy mission, purpose, end. 

Thou art chosen, gentle woman. 

By thy unexampled form, 
As the mother of the Nations,— 

Thou wast not for contest born. 

But should misfortune call thee forth. 

To stem life's stormy sea, 
In noble deeds, or works, or faith, 

Thou wilt not wanting be. 



Il6 WELDED LINKS. 

"Excelsior" thy motto, then, 

O woman, doubly crowned, 
For In thy perfect w^omanhood 

Man's noblest gifts abound. 

All that's good, and pure, and holy. 

Finds embodiment in thee; 
In thy being there is blended 

Perfect love and trinity, 

Noblest mission ever given, 
Seraphs not so regal crowned 

As art thou, oh, peerless woman, — 
Heaven hath not thine equal found. 

In thy soul, O matchless woman, 
Thou hast fascinating charms ; 

And their power wields stronger w^eapons. 
Than man's ballot, or his arms. 



KIGHT. 



117 



NIGHT. 



t^Bi^^OW gently fall the shades of night 
d'S^^ In orlimmerino;- rays of softened li(jht ! 

4^ t, .-> .7 f. 



I 



How spreads her mantle, cool and pale. 
O'er mountain tops and pastoral vale ! 

How lull the weary ones to rest 
Beneath the shadows of her breast ! 
How woos the world at day-light's close 
'Neath coverlets of sweet repose ! 

How hurries home on laden wing 
The bee, who sweetest treasure brings, 
Culled from many a shrub and flower, 
From willow Made and forest bower ! 



1 I 8 WELDED LINKS. 

How cattle, after evening's meal, 
'Midst gathering shadows slowly kneel, 
To chew ao^ain their midnight cud, 
While jeweled stars the heavens bestud ! 

How men to homes or haunts repair! 
While crouchincr wild beasts from their lair 
Steal softly forth to prowl for prey, 
Till night glides far from wak'ning day. 

How women turn from anxious care 
To closets where they bow in prayer ! 
Or o'er the narrow trundle-bed 
Ask blessings on some tiaxen head ! 

How laughing childhood goes to rest 
Pillowed upon its mother's breast ! 
With feeble step how age retires 
Unsatisfied with life's desires ' 



NIGHT. 119 

How sleeping birds on boughs doth swing 
With heads concealed 'neath folded wing ! 
Or, sitting on some new-made nest, 
Fold tender fledgelings to their breast ! 

How crickets chirp with joyful glee 
'Neath hanging boughs on bending tree! 
How frogs sing out their hoarser note 
From marshy bogs where lilies float ! 

How sweet, night's cool, refreshing air ! 
How glisten dew-drops, pure and fair, 
On blades of grass and tender flower ! — 
Bright jewels of the midnight hour ! 

'Tis thus the night is whiled away. 
Till morn comes ush'ring in the day; 
When men arise to meet life's fray, 
Women to work, and watch, and pray. 



I20 WELDED LINKS. 



CAST YOUR BREAD UPON THE WATERS. 



1 



M|,AST your bread upon the waters ; 
^ They are winding to the sea, 



i?Ta^ 



il[f And with human souls are freighted, 
^ Destined for Eternity. 

Cast your bread upon the waters, 
Sow your costly, richest grain ; 

In the soul's eternal store-house 
'Twill be gathered up again. 

Cast your bread upon the waters. 

Dry the tear from childhood's eye, 

Speak a gentle word of comfort 
To the beggar passing by. 



CAST YOUR BREAD UPON THE WATERS. 121 

Cast your bread upon the waters, 

Hear the outcast's awful moan ; 
Down into their depths of sorrow, 

Let your love be freely sown. 

Benisons of souls in anguish 

Shall ascend to Heaven's high dome ; 
When the Master says, " Come higher," 

They'll be written on His throne. 

Oh! the bread shall all be gathered ; 

For there's not so barren ground 
But that, if the seed be planted, 

There shall be a harvest found. 

To the widow and the orphan, 

Wheresoe'er distress is known, 
Be it in the gilded palace, 

On the wayside or the throne, 



122 WELDED LINKS. 

Be it clothed in purple vestments, 
Or in rags on child of shame, 

Every word that giveth comfort 
Is the bread and p;olden erain. 

And the spikenard and the ointment, 

Which to use were thought not meet. 

They were far less costly offerings 

Than the tears which washed His feet. 

And the widow with her offering. 
Though it be an humble mite, 

It shall be of greater value 
Than the sacerdotal rite. 

And the man who loves his neighbor, 
Be he e'er so rich or poor, 

He shall surely find acceptance 
As a crood and faithful doer. 



CAST YOUR BREAD UPON THE WATERS. 12^ 

And the Book wherein is judgment, 

Which the final die shall cast 
That shall gauge our hell or Heaven, 

Will be the retrospective past. 

Each one's soul shall be the ancrel 

That records the deeds he's done ; 

And so jegibly be written, 

They shall live though fades the sun. 

Yes, the Book of Life shall open. 

It shall be the living soul ; 
And each page, whereon is written, 

Will be a true and faithful scroll. 

Mountains then shall fail to hide us, 

Subterfuge to fitly screen ; 
Honest, earnest soul-endeavor 

Alone can wash the spirit clean. 



124 



WELDED LINKS. 



SOLAR RAYS. 




HY rays in streams of gladness 
Make rich the desert place, 
^ And spread a floral off'nng 
1 Where reig-ned a barren waste. 



They scent the sweet forget-me-not, 
The violet, and the rose ; 

They paint the humble dew-drop ; 
The lilies' charms disclose. 



They spread a blush of beauty, 
To cover nature's mould ; 
And in their warm embraces 



The trrace of love entold. 

o 



SOLAR RAYS. 

They quivered in the verdure 

That clothed the forest wild ; 

And shone upon the rainbow 

When first its promise smiled. 

They send abundant fragrance 
Through ever)' How'r)- plain ; 

They ride upon the morning air, 
And clothe the rip'ning grain. 

They robe the royal heavens 

With varie^-ated lio-ht • 
And, through the pale faced lunar orb. 

Dispel the shades of nio-ht. 



125 



126 WELDED LINKS. 



DECORATION DAY. 

SkPREAD garlands of pansies and roses 
wg^^ O'er the graves where our dead soldiers lay ; 
For them build a temple of mourning, 
And a shrine which shall never decay. 

The Nation with turmoil was riven, 
While death threatened in every throe ; 
The heart of the people was bleeding, 
And their ensign was trailing in woe. 

Then came to the front these defenders, 
In the strength of their manhood and pride ; 
How bravely they fought our dread battles ! 
Oh ! how fearlessly struggled and died ! 



DECORATION DAY. 12/ 

They heard the fierce shriek of the battle, 
The wild scream of the grape-shot and shell : 
Yet, dauntless, they marched to the conflict, 
To the field where they valiantly fell. 

Then give your fresh garlands of roses, 
Weave a chaplet for every head. 
The Nation with homaofe is bendinpf 
O'er the graves of her Patriot Dead. 

We owe them the deepest oblations ; 
'Tis a debt we never can pay ; 
Then spread your fresh garlands of roses 
O'er the graves where their pale ashes lay. 

These flowers, how well they're befitting ! 
Cut oft" in the full bloom of their pride ; 
Like the boys whose graves they embellish, 
Ere the rnorrow they, too, shall have died. 



.128 WELDED LINKS. 

But what of the brav^e ones who've fallen 
Where the battle was fiercest, and hot ! — 
Whose graves are unmarked by a headstone ! 
Shall sweet florals for them be forgot ? 

For them weave your amaranth flowers, 
Twine your crosses with fair immortelles ; 
For tTiem ring your last parting salute 
In the chime ot your musical bells. 



DEDICATED TO THE AUTHOR OF TEUCHSA GRONDIE. I 29 



DEDICATED TO THE AUTHOR OF 
TEUCHSA GRONDIE. 



f-MMORTAL Bard! thy pen of fire 



Ij^j^^^How well hath told of Indian ire 

1^ How well proclaimed his love and hate. 



1 



His passion wild, insensate \ 

How well thou hast his story sung ! 
As though thine own were Indian tonofue. 
How deep the quaff thy soul hath drunk, 
Nor from his passions base hath shrunk ! 

His tomahawk and scalping knife. 

The war whoop and the festal strife, 

The blazinsf fagfot's fearful flame, 

The white man's dread and Indian's shame,- 



130 WELDED LINKS. 

All these thy pen hath painted clear. 
The hunt, the chase for antlered deer, 
The harvest moon with fields of corn. 
And squalid huts where scalps adorn, 

Yea, of the wild, unlettered race, 
Thy pen, O Bard, with skilful trace 
Hath sketched his record full and clear ; 
His hope, his hate, his love, his fear. 

The happy hunting ground hath found, 
Where Bison, Bear, and Elk abound, 
And streams replete with finny tribe, — 
The blooming maid and blushing bride. 

Yea, each of these thy pen hath traced ; 

Its record time cannot efface ; 

'Tis writ in many a purple flood 

Of manhood's, and of youthful blood. 




CHANGING SEASONS. 



CHANGING SEASONS. 

HE rolling years rush swiftly by ; 
The seasons, how they change ! 
■J^ From sear hoar-frost and wintry air, 
I The spring comes forth with violets fair, 
Beneath the chilling snow. 

And spring glides on to summer skies 

Beneath whose burning sun 
The little dewdrop folds its eye, 
The tulip droops, and rosebuds die, 
Soft o-rasses curl and fade : 

And summer lengthens out her days 

To autumn's richest sheen, 
Where rainbow colors deck the glade, 
And forests bloom in many a shade 
Of red, and green, and gold. 



131 



132 ^YELDED LINKS. 

Then autumn crowds its onward way 

To winter's chilling breast, 
"Where beauty lies in ice-bound shrouds 

Let down from frosty, fleecy clouds ; 
'Tis Nature's funeral day. 



PROVERB. 

They who do no wrong 
Fear no evil. 



TO A PAXSY, 



TIT 



TO A PANSY. 



f 



BEAUTIFUL pansy, 
Wi^ With your purple and gold, 
How marv^elous the grace, 
Which your face doth infold ! 
How sweetly you tell me, 
That 'tis wisdom and truth, 
Which is clothing Aour life 
With the freshness of youth. 
O delicate pansy, 
With a modesty rare, 
You are hiding your face 
In bright velvet so fair. 



134 



WELDED LINKS. 

Sure, God in His wisdom 
Has given you a kiss, 
With fragrance so luscious 
That it woos unto bliss, 
Where'er its pure touches 
Dispense on the air 
Such perfume as Heaven 
Alone can prepare. 



O pansy, dear pansy, 

How I blush to behold 

Your sweet modesty clothed 

In such purple and gold ; 

A prouder adorning 

Ne'er graced kingdom or throne. 

Than those which the Father 

In your vestments has shown. 



TO A PANSY. 135 

But tell me, dear pansy, 

In that beautiful land, 

Beyond the dark river 

Of life's swift flowing strand. 

Shall I meet vou ao-ain 

In lovely array ? 

With bud, and with blossom, 

For ever and aye ? 

Oh ! I know you will live 
On that beautiful shore, 
Where roses and pansies 
Will bloom ever more ; 
For Heaven will be brighter. 
Yes, more dear and more fair, 
If pansies, dear Father, 
And sweet roses are there. 



1 36 WELDED LINKS. 



NEVER FAILING GUIDE. 



-'Jj^fll?'^ WAS in the gloomy garden ; 






. Bitter tears were freeh- shed, 

4w And the orentle dews of midnight 

Fell upon the weeper's head. 



And those tears have thrilled creation 
With their majesty and awe ; 

For such wondrous love and pity, 
Nor men nor antrels ever saw. 

He has heard my cry of anguish, 
He has heard my bitter wail, 

He has beaten back the tempest, 

When too stronor has blown the eale. 



NEVER FAILING GUIDE. 

When my soul stood all deserted, 

Then this Friend to me was near ; 

He has felt each wave of sorrow, 
He has seen each bitter tear. 

Yes, indeed, this Friend has loved me, 
Been a never failing Guide; 

And His an^el guards attend me 
Whatsoe'er my steps betide. 

See His wonders in creation — 

Change of seasons, day and night ; 

See the earth to give me nurture, 
And the sun to give me light. 

See the flora of His kingdom, 
Varied as the stars above ; 

See the fruit and vegetation ! 

All these tell me, " God is love." 



138 WELDED LINKS. 

And the course of many waters 

Filled with life of varied form ; 

And the cool, and shady forest 

Resonant with birds of song ; 

And the gentle, pearly dew-drop 

Fallinor from its heiorht above : — 

All were made by His good pleasure 
To reveal a Father's love. 

Yes, indeed, this Friend has loved me, 
Stamped me with His signet ring, 

Put a crown upon my forehead. 

Calling me, " Child of a King," 

Fitted up a mansion for me, 

Frescoed all its walls with stars ; 

And I see His royal vestments 
In the rainbow's tinted bars. 



AN ONLY SON. 1 39 



AN ONLY SON. 









M SAD to-night, I must have rum ! 
k^Let's see how many years have flown, 
Since first I tipped the flowing bowl, 
And'clrank such ruin to my soul. 

Ah ! then I was a gay young lad : 
No grief, remorse or sad despair 
Had swept into my youthful soul ; 
And yet I drained the flowing bowl. 

I drank for joy, I drank for glee, 
I drank when others drank for me, 
Because It was the social bowl, — 
The flow of reason, feast of soul. 



I40 WELDED LINKS. 

And then I drank to pass the time, 
As merry rang the tinkling dime ; 
The joke passed round, and then began 
The ruin of an only son. 

I'm but a wreck, a drunken sot ! 
By friends despised, perhaps forgot ! 
My gold, 'tis in the rum-shop tills. 
To pay for rum and whisky bills. 

Ah ! can I, must I yet drink rum? 
I, a poor mother's only son ! 
And drive her down with whitened hair 
And trembling form to sad despair. 

No, no ! I'll break the galling chain 
That binds the reason, soul and brain ; 
I'll dash away the cursed bowl 
Which blights the body and the soul. 



AN ONLY SON MaXIM. I4I 

And then, perhaps, her smile will come, 
As mother sees her only son 
Is saved from whisky's awful brink, 
Where many boys in ruin sink. 



MAXIM. 



Unkind words are the implements 
Which dig graves in the human heart, 
Wherein are deposited the ashes 
Of love's funeral pyre. 



142 



WELDED LINKS. 



NOTHING BUT ASHES. 




OTHING but ashes! 

The roses decay, — 
Their beautiful bloom 

Soon fades away, 
And leaves 
Nothing but ashes. 



Nothing but ashes l 

Oh memory, how sweet ! 
Its mystical charms 

Are laid at our feet, 
And yield 
No thin or but ashes. 



NOTHING BUT ASHES. 

Nothing but ashes ! 

And is there no rest 
For wearisome care 

Which rankles the breast, 
And leaves 
Nothing but ashes? 

Nothing but ashes! 

For hopes and for fears, 
For joys and sorrows 

Which make up our years, 
Is there 
Nothing but ashes ? 

Nothing but ashes 

On which to recHne ! 

For famishing hearts 

And souls that repine, 
Is there 

Nothing but ashes ? 



H3 



144 



WELDED LINKS. 

Nothing but ashes ! 

For prodigal son, 
Or Magdalen's heart 

Which anguish has wrung, 
Is there 
Nothing but ashes? 

Nothinor but ashes ! 

Has memory's chain 
No link which exists 

Beyond this refrain ? 
Is life 
Nothing but ashes ? 

Nothing but ashes ! 

On which to bridge o'er 
The dark flowing strand 

To Eternity's shore, 
Is there 
Nothine but ashes ? 



NOTHING BUT ASHES. 1 45 

Nothinof but ashes ! 

Life's roseate hue 
Fades on the lips, 

Is subtle as dew, 
And leaves 
Nothinof but ashes. 

Nothing but ashes ! 

And is there no charm 
Which shall the dark tomb 

Of terror disarm ? 
Is there 
Nothing save ashes ? 

Nothing but ashes ! 

The Crown and the Cross, — 
Shall these be accounted 

As idle, as dross. 
Which yield 
Nothinpf but ashes ? 



1 40 



WELDED LINKS. 

Nothing but ashes ! 

Dear Father above, 
Thy boundless compassion, 

Thy fullness of love 
Turneth 
Never to ashes. 



FIRST GREAT CAUSE. 1 47 



FIRST GREAT CAUSE. 



"^fMir O, ASK the tiniest blade of grrass, 

mm 

Fresh from its mother earth, 



Whence came the germ from which it sprang 
From chaos into birth. 

Then ask the violet's velvet face, 

Arrayed in beauty fair, 
How was it that her colors came, 

Wrought out by earth and air. 

The violet lifts her wondrous face 

Toward the ether blue. 
While deeper paints the purple flood 

Her velvet tissues throug-h. 



148 WELDED LINKS. 

Next, ask the freshly budding rose 
With offering;" of perfume, 

Whence came her lovely, blushing face, 
Her foliage, bud and bloom. 

How silently she speaks to us. 

With breath of sweet perfume : — 

"God having touched the virgin earth, 
Gave me my bud and bloom." 

Go to the ocean's briny main, 
Tossed on the billowy deep, 

And ask his ever-changing tides, 

Who doth his boundaries keep. 

The swelling ocean from his depths 
An answer doth proclaim : — 

"Jehovah walks amidst the deep. 
And binds the rap-inof main." 



FIRST GREAT CAUSE. 

Ask of the winds whose hoarser notes 
Doth cause man's soul to cjuail, 

How gentle zephyrs cease to be, 
And awful storms prevail. 

The zephyr whispers to the sea ; 

The sea gives back a moan : — 
''' God hath unchained his awful steed, 

And hence the dread cyclone." 

If thou can'st climb the starrv heights 
Go ask the God of day : — 

Whence million orbs pursue their course, 
Nor ever lose their way. 

He answers through his burning rays 
Of dazzling splendor bright : — 

" God marketh out our every way, 
And leads us in the night." 



149 



l^O 



WELDED LINKS. 



SABBATH. 



i4 




^OFT and gentle as a zephyr 

Borne on summer's balmy air, 
Comes the hallowed Sabbath morning, 
Dissipating all my care. 

For its quiet, sacred musings 
Bring with it a joy divine ; 

And I get of heaven a foretaste, 
Bowinof at the Master's shrine. 

I can look beyond the portals, 

Hear the music of the spheres. 

Hear the anthem and the chorus 

Resonant through all the year-.. 



SABBATH. 

I can hear loud hallelujahs 

As they chime from shore to shore ; 
Mortals stand within the orate-way, 

Angels bridge the chasm o'er. 



15' 



1!;2 WELDED LINKS. 



NOTHING LOST. 



^^H, who can tell 
^ The first great cause ? 

Or who the mystery solve 
From whence the mighty worlds come forth, 

What law observes them all ? 
How swings each one in empty space 

In its revolving sphere? 
No jar nor discord with them all ; 

For law supreme is here. 
We may not solve this wondrous power, 

From whence or how it came ; 
For man is finite — this alone 
Infinity can explain. 



NOTHING LOST. I 5, 

Or can the earthen vessel say 

By whom or how 'twas wrought ? 
Nor yet can mortal man explain 

God's purposes or thought. 
Yet, sure it is, a First Great Cause 

Has fashioned at His will, 
Our very nature in a mould, 

By His infinite skill. 
As not an atom e'er is lost 

In all created things, 
Shall man declare that he alone 

Of all God's mighty works, 
Can find some spot 
Where God can not 

His conscious being bring? 
What though we burn on funeral pyres, 

Or sink beneath the sea, 



154 



WELDED LINKS. 

Yet, in the Great Creator's thought, 

Our being still shall be 
A part and parcel of the whole 

Which makes eternity. 
And if the body which we see 

Can never be destroyed, 
What of the better part of man. 

The image of the Lord ? 
This thine which thinks is matter, too, 

An indestructible part. 
And is of the Creator's works 

His master-piece of art. 



THE SERPENT OF THE STILL. 



155 



THE SERPENT OF THE STILL. 









HE foaming bowl ! 
xmsy^ '^The accursed bowl, 
■^- The demon of the still ! 
I A mortal pang 

Is in its fang; 
It fascinates to kill. 



Yes, it enslaves ; 

It never saves 
The victims of the still. 

It puts a ban 

On every man 
Who feeds the rum-shop's till. 



^5^ WELDED LliNTKS. 

It scatters death 
In many a home — 

This monster of the still. 
Its greedy maw 
Defies the law 

And murders whom it will. 

A mother's joy, 
A father's pride, 

This Demon of the still 
Has slain them by 
A thousand score : 

His license is to kill. 

He threatens now 
Our government 

With his Satanic sting : 
Our statesmen bow 
Low at his feet ; 

For Bacchus is their kino-. 



THE SERPENT OF THE STILL. I57 

Then, rally ! ye 

Who love your homes, 
And save your countr\-'s cause ! 

Nor let the friends 

Of Bacchus make 
Our Governmental laws. 

Rally on each 

Election day ! 
Bring- out your forces strong, 

And put to llight 

The drunken hosts 
That round Kino- Bacchus throno- ! 

Then, we shall have 

A Government 
Of which to proudly l)oast : 

Nations and men 

Will chant her praise 
From East to Western coast. 



1^8 WELDED LINKS. 



GOD IS LOVE. 



I OD speaks in every song of bird; 



'■'-■K 



In tiny shrub and flower; 
rising, and the setting sui 
Proclaim His love and power. 



til The rising, and the setting sun- 



Yet man was so unapt to learn — 
God's fatherhood and care — 

That he foreshadowed dark abodes 
Where no ray of hope was there. 

Didst thou Dear Lord to prisons go- 
To preach to Spirits there, 

To rebellious ones in Noah's time- 
To liofhten their despair? 



GOD IS LOVE. 159 

Then Lord again we pray descend 

To spirits still in prison 
And lift them from their dark abodes 

To the glory of thy heaven. 

There could not be a heaven for me, 

And know that one, who fell 
ThrouQrh Adam's G;reat and mortal sin — 

Were writhing in a hell. 

O Lord ! we know how full, how free 

The purchase that was given, 
'Twas adequate in all its parts. 

To bring each soul to heaven. 

It triumphed over death, and hell, 

Held victory o'er the grave ; 
Thank God ! our risen Christ hath power — 

Each soul of man to save. 



l6o WELDED LINKS. 

And death, and hell are swallowed up, 

The victory is complete ; 
Angels and men alike shall fall — 

In honor at his feet. 

What though I through death's valley walk ! 

These cheering words I hear, 
" Thy rod, thy staff, they comfort me," 

And dissipate my fear. 

Since thou art love, O God vve know 
No ill can come from Thee ; 

We'll trust our keeping in thy hands, 
Through all eternity. 

Love, O Imperial Love Divine! 

What name becometh Thee, 
Since Thou art Goodness, Light, and Love, 

And fillest immensity.? 



MEMORIAL TO COUSIN ANNA. 



I6l 



We'll call Thee then, Our Father, God, 
Supreme in power, and love, 

Primeval cause of all that was, 
Beneath, around, above. 



MEMORIAL TO COUSIN ANNA. 



liPli ^^""^ glorious joy 

H'^" ^^ ^^^y vision awakening. 



31 )f 



j|^ As the portals of bliss 

To thv soul doth unfold ; 



And new beauties eternal, 
With bliss that's supernal, 
Surrounds thee for aye — 
In the home of thy soul. 



l62 



WELDED LINKS. 



AT MY MOTHER'S GRAVE. 

[Apulia, N. Y., Sept. 22. 1SS6.] 



prajFlFE'S heart aches, life's cares, 
^vji Life's harrowing; pains 
J All are now left — 
For an infinite i;ain. 
No nieasure of sorrow 
Can reach where I go. 
There tears of deep anguish 
Will never more How. 



No losses to meet me, 
No crosses to bear. 
For my Saviour is King 
In my mansion, o'er there; 
All my griefs, and my burthens 
Are whelmed in the cross, 
Earth's costliest treasures- 
Are the shadow of dross. 



I'OOR MAHKI. (ik.W. 



163 



POOR map,i:l gray. 



3pWf'l OOR ^labcl dra}- was out one tla)' 
Y(j They paused to say: l\)or Mahfl Ora)- 



ik 



Thi' children passing' 1)\" 
v' paused to say : l\)or ^ 
W h)' do you sob and ci'\ 



O Mabel Oay ! j^oor Mabel Oray 
Sang out this sad refrain — 

My father now's across the way 

See! through the window pane, 



He holds the glass within his hand! 

He raises it mid air ; 
A spectre form that glass commands, 

And father falters there. 



1 64 WELDED LINKS. 

Look ! at the bar again he stands, 
That form still hovers nicrh 

'Tis mother! now she clasps his hand, 
I see her love lit eye ! 

I see her fleecy robes of white. 
Her arms around him twine, 

The glass now falls from out his hand, 
He dashes down the wine. 

Ah yes ! he put away the bowl, 
For sure he heard her say — 

" Oh do not thus destroy your soul. 
Our Mabel's 'crost the way." 



EULOGY ON FLOWERS. lb- 



EULOGY ON FLOWERS. 

= HAT offering more delicate 



r#tt 



fjr^^And expressive of the soul's emotion than 
flowers, 
Dispensing their sweet perfume, 
■^ Like the visits of angels, 

Unsolicited and without the expectation of reward ? 

What else approaches so near the divine element, 
Diffusing on those who come within its radius — 
The sweetness of its grace, 
And giving to saint and sinner alike a hallowed 

charm, 
Which soothes, elevates and ennobles the human 

soul. 
Lifting it above the sordid things of earth, 
And giving to it — 

A foretaste of heaven's elysian bowers. 
Where flowers fade not, 
And where released souls — 
Bask in the richness of their exotic perfume? 



1 66 



WOMAN S WORK. 



WOMAN'S WORK. 



1 



'hen rocked the earth midst deep'ning gloom, 



^^■'rt^j;^ And darkness veiled the sacred tomb, 
J^S 01)scurin</ earth and sky, 

V Then woman, like an angel, went 

As if by heavenly inriuence sent 
Her Lord to glorify. 



Thus woman's work has always been 
Where'er there's woe, or want, or sin. 

To comfort and to save ; 
The last to linger round the bier, 
And oft returns to sprinkle tears 

Upon the lonely grave. 



WELDED LINKS. 167 

Her husband's heart she'll fortify, 
And shape the mold in which the die 

Of childhood's life is cast. 
She weaves round home a magic charm. 
And by her thrift and smile disarms 

The power of adverse blasts. 

Mer work is not, as man's, intent 
Old forms and laws to circumvent, 

And set the world aritrht. 
She reigns at home a regal (jueen ; 
Her law of love is all supreme,— 

And this is woman's might. 

The home is where the battle's strife 
For or against the Nation's life 

Is fouii'ht with silent tread. 
Then let your holy mission be 
To set your sons and daughters free 

From rum's influence dread. 



1 68 WOMAN S WORK. 

This work belongs to woman's hand, 
No other power can stay or stand 

Against its mighty wave. 
Then, sisters, rally and be true ! 
Your sons and daughters look to you 

Their heritage to save. 

Not with a frown, and chilling look, 
Nor man, nor angel e'er will brcok 

Censorious scathing plan. 
But with love's mighty power to win, 
You may redeem the home from sin, 

And save poor erring man. 

A kindly look, a cheering word 

Nor yet was seen, nor yet was heard. 

But had a power divine. 
The laws may all be set aright, 
By woman's will, and woman's might, 

If love doth these combine. 



WELDED LINKS. I 69 



OUR RESURRECTED DEAD. 



^'J^^^'rHE apple bloom for aye, and ay, 
i^lpW^ Shall scent the sprins: time air; 

And tree, and shrub shall clothe themselves- 



In foliaee most fair. 



-is 



The resurrection morn shall dawn 
Full oft the years to come ; 

When twittering birds on bending bough- 
Sine: forth the welcome home. 

And noney bee, loosed from its hold 

In wmter's stern embrace, 
Shall meet the resurrection morn 

On fragile wing of grace. 



170 OUR RESURRECTED DEAD. 

The butterfly, from out its tomb, 
Shall rise on gilded wing, — 

To cut the sweetly scented air, 

Perfumed with flowers of spring. 

Shall then there be for man no spring 
Of resurrection morn ? 

When shaking off the dew of death 
Shall rise again new-born ? 

Shall rise to higher life, and state, 
To vaster realms by far ; 

Where all life's possibilities 
Shall be for him to share ? 

Oh tell me not the grave's embrace, 
Shall hold my cherished dead ; 

Since butterfly on gilded wing 
From its embrace has fled. 



WELDED LINKS. IJI 

Is man, to God of lesser care 

Than butterfly on wing, 
That he be left in death's embrace — 

With no reviving spring ? 

Shall apple tree put forth its bloom. 
And spring time scent the air; 

And man be left in death's embrace 
No spring time for him there ? 

Dear Son of God ! thou who has cleft 

The darkness of the tomb; 
Wilt bring to life' my dead again, 

In everlasting bloom. 

Yea ! even now death hath unloosed, 
Its hold upon their frame: 

And man triumphant from the grave- 
Comes back to life again. 



172 OUR RESURRECTED DEAD. 

Comes to us in our hour of need, 
When anguish keen of blade — 

Hath sent its hilt into our souls, 
Prostrate our hopes have laid. 

Up lifts the raven wing of woe, 

Gives joy, where hooe had fied- 

The mission of our loved and lost. 
Our resurrected dead. 



WELDED LINKS. 173 



^<; 



GOD IN NATURE. 

HE heavens, Thy glory, Lord, declare ; 
The earth, Thy works proclaim ;" 



■•^ All nature's ruled by Thy command, 



I 



And glorifies Thy name. 

Eternal harmony is Thine 

In heaven, and earth, and sea; 

Thy home's throughout the realms of space, 
Thy days, — Eternity. 

Thou fadest not by length of )'cars, 
Nor yet by age groweth old ; 

All time with Thee is as 'twere not, 
In Thee all things infold. 



174 GOD IN NATURE. 

Or ever worlds began, Thou wert, 
Or fade — Thou still shalt be; 

Eternal youth is thine abode, — 
Thou fill'st immensity. 

Thy holy temple's far beyond 

The range of mortal thought ; 

From out thy Sanctuary, Lord, 
Thou hast creation brought. 

There in that fathomless abyss 
Thou walkest. Lord, alone ; 

And wheresoe'er creation is. 

Thou hast set up thy throne. 

And in the finite realm of space, 
Each grade ascending higher, 

Thou hast evolved the human race, 
Of which Thou art the Sire. 



WELDED LINKS. I 75 

Man's heart to Thine so well attuned, 

A living, thinking lyre, 
Thou can'st within his beino- reien ; 

Thou dost his soul inspire. 

Upon his brain Thou did'st reHect 

The impress of thy thought ; 
And thus within man's conscious soul 

Thou hast Thyself inwrought. 

'Twas thus through organism came 

The Seraphs in their line ; 
May be it were of finer mold 

That stamped them more divine. 

What though the mold were coarse or fine, 

It changeth not thy plan ; 
Eternal life thou hast inwrouofht 

Through intellectual man. 



1*76 GOD IN NATURE. 

So perfect is his heart attuned 
To that of thine own lyre, 

Thou hast in him an essence found ; 
Of earth — 'tis something higher. 

And touched by thy magnetic will, 
Responsive to thy thought, 

Blending within his finer parts, 
Thou hast thyself inwrought. 

How wondrous is thy mighty love 
In all thy works displayed ! 

In tempest, — in the tiny flower. 
Thy glory is arrayed. 

Oh ! how shall man attempt to scan 
The wisdom of thy will ? 

Whate'er of good there is — Thou art- 
May be what seemeth ill. 



WELDED LINKS. I 77 

Unknown, unseen, yet all around, 

In every thing, Thou art. 
Throughout all time, throughout all space, 

Thou art the greater part. 

The pearly dew-drop is thy tear, 

Thou dost descend in rain ; 
And yet to find thy dwelling place, 

Has long been man's refrain. 

Thou look'st to us through every star, 

Thy voice is in the rill, 
It speaks to us in softest tones, 

And thunders, with it thrill. 

We see thy majesty and power 

In worlds revolving round ; 
In everything by beaut)' shaped 

Thy loveliness is found. 



178 



AMEPICAN SLAVES. 



AMERICAN SLAVES. 




MERICAN slaves! 

How many are we 
Living on hill tops 

And down in the lea ; 
Living in valleys, 

On Ocean and Sea? 
Ten hundred-thousand 

Poor bond-men are we. 



WELDED LINKS. I 7Q 

We suffer the blight, 

We suffer the shame, 
We feel the antruish 

Of a maddened brain. 
Yes, we suffer the taunt, 

And we feel the jeer 
Of the idle scoff 

And the smirking leer. 

And we bear it all. 

This burden of woes, 
For a curse that sparkles 

And a curse that glows, 
For a curse concealed 

In the flowing bowl. 
Wrecking our bodies 



And blio^htino; our souls. 



l8o AMERICAN SLAVES. 

American slaves, 

The victims of rum ! 

There lurks in the wine cup 
The adder that stung 

Your souls with remorse, 

And caused you to roam 

As wanderinof outcasts 

From friends and from home. 

Turn from its meshes. 

Its arts, and its wiles ; 
Turn from its lurements. 

Its blandishing smiles ; 
Turn from its passion 

All reeking with sin ; 
Turn from the wine-cup ! 

A serpent's therein. 



WELDED LINKS. 



I8l 



IN MEMORY OF H. C. K. 



=T!l 



i 



&w H ! THE sad, sad hours of anguish, 
^^5^ Which rent a brother's heart with woe ; 

Oh ! the galhng throes of sadness, 

Which did his noble soul o'erflow. 



Crowded round his earthly vision. 
Clouds of deadly, darkest hue, 

Blotting' out each ray of sun-light. 
From his spirit vision's view. 



Hope had fled from out its mansion, 
Chased away by trembling fear ; 

Angels well might weep with pit}- 
O'er his sad, untimely bier. 



l82 • IN MEMORY OF H. C. K. 

When the poor came to his notice, 
For their wants he freely gave ; 

When he needed consolation, 

Who was there to help or save ? 

Happy they, who 'scape the burdens 

Which his wearied soul had known ; 

Happy they, around whose pathway 

Flowers with fewer thorns are strewn. 

Judge him not, O erring mortals ; 

Heaven alone his jury be ; 
God discerns the secret impulse ; 

Men the outward actions see. 



WELDED LINKS. 183 



WOMAN'S APPEAL. 



#|:F3."?,OME to the front ! oh, rally, men, rally ! 
4^F^ And by the ballots you each one shall cast 
X Drive from our midst the fearful rum monster, 
^ Nor wait till another election has passed. 



Rally ! ye men who boast of proud honor. 
Rally ! ye men who have sisters and wives. 
Drive from th' nation this horrible monster 
Ere he shall destroy sixty thousand more lives. 

Rally ! ye fathers, men of the nation, 
Hear ye the call of the wounded and slain. 
Come to the front and rescue our brothers 
Bound down in the coils of alcohol's chain. 



1 84 



WOMAN S APPEAL. 



Come to the front ! ye men who wear helmets, 
On which are engraved love, mercy and truth ; 
Come ! preach down this most cursed of traffics, 
Which stings like an adder our beautiful )-outh. 

Come to the front ! ye noble, true-hearted, 

All ye wno have borne the sorrow and grief, 

Ye whose loved ones have been stun^r bv th' adder, 

Come, and demand through the ballot relief ! 

Waste not your time in idle persuasion. 
Nor sit in a grief that's born of despair; 
Rise up in your might, demand of th' nation 
Your rights which alone your wrongs can repair. 

Your prayers ! your ballots ! cast them together 
Into the scale of Justice and Right ; 
They shall o'erbalance the mightiest army 
Which right against wrong is called on to fight. 



WELDED LINKS. 



i«5 



UPPER COLUMBIA RIVER. 



^fi2X2.. 



Dedicated to Mrs. Capt. Hopkins, daughter of the late Col. Baker. 



f NATURE invincible, how gloriou.sly grand I 
^r^ What wondrous formation of rock, river and strand, 
j'^ How marvelous thy teachings ; what lessons untold 
:( Of the ages long past thy formations unfold. 

What wonderful blending of murky and blue, 
Thy waters, Columbia, with the f Snake passing thro* 
We gaze in our wonder as th)- beauties unfold 
With their shadings of green interlaced with the gold' 
Nor wonder that Nature's wild sons of this clime 
Should see in thy presence an image divine, 
And hear in thy murmur of waters and air 
The voices of angels seraphic and fain 

tSnake River. 



1 80 



UPPER COLUMBIA RIVER. 



O dear land of the North, O wonderful land, 
With out-stretching rivers midst gold-glinted sand, 
With mountains rugged, prolific, and grand, 
Surpassing in beauty, our homage demands. 

O beautiful rivers, Columbia and Snake, 

Near the town of Wallula thy beauties awake ; 

On the left, there's the Giant with its profile in rock 

Standing guard to the passage its beauties unlock. 

On the right are the Sister's with columns now broke, 

Opposite, Crown Point is most clearly bespoke. 

" Rock-ribbed," the mountains stand back to make 

room 
For the newly wedded* -for Columbia's proud groom. 
The trinity of rivers here embrace in their glee. 
Trip down to the Cascades, dance on to the sea. 
Farther up, on the river, where Tou Cannon has fame, 
There Captain Hopkins assumed Point Annetta to name. 

*Walla Walla River. 



WELDED LINKS. 1 87 

The river's a marvel from its source to the sea, 
With towns interdotting through mountains and lea, 
Now, cities of grandeur with beauty of mien 
Surrounded by mountains and forests of green ; 
Then, hills that are barren, rock-crested, and sear, 
Where circles the eagle unmolested by fear. 

And the prairies stretch out with high, rolling land, 
Interspersed with many a swift-tlowing strand. 
Farther back from the river, fields waving with erain, 
Deck richly the hillsides, the valleys, and plain. 
Farewell ! beautiful scenery, we pass from thy view. 
Farewell ! Harvest Queen, Captain Troup, and the 
crew. 



1 88 



OUR COUNTRY. 



OUR COUNTRY. 



^■f-'S&i'iJ* 






f N THE primeval morning time, 



f^4 There Nature's quiet breast 

Lay, in its virgin solitude, 



1 



Unbroken in its rest. 



And no response from woodman's ax 
Was heard in wood or glade ; 

The soil, unbroken by the plow. 
Or by the gardener's spade. 



The hills had slept in quiet mood, 
The glade and plains among. 

No clash of warrior's arms had there 
Amidst their silence rung. 



WELDED LINKS. 

The birds, in sweetest, softest notes, 

Their melody prolonged ; 
The eagle from his dizz)- height 

Shrieked out his clarion sono-. 

o 

The restive bear fawned with her cubs, 

In playful, sportive glee; 
The sighing water's peaceful breast 

Rolled silvery to the sea. 

The Indian roamed in stealthy quest 
For game and an tiered deer. 

While not a thought e'er stirred his breast 
That savored of a fear. 

The prairies with sweet incense fanned 

The early morning air ; 
The daintiest gifts that Nature planned 

Sent up their voiceless prayer. 



189 



190 OUR COUNTRY. 

Where roamed the Indian for his game 
Through glade, and forest wild, 

There now is heard the song of mirth 
From many a happy child. 

Beneath our country's pillared tame, 
A serpent's deadly coil 

Lay silent in our Roll of State, 
A monster to despoil. 

Its circling, grasping, hideous form 
Had been the people's pet, 

'Twas handled with the softest touch 
A nation's fears beget. 

But on that pyre our sacrifice. 
Undaunted, undismayed, 

By North and South, in precious lives, 
As offerinor -was laid. 



WELDED LINKS. 

Convulsions shook like Sinai 
Our Country and its pride, 

Ere Justice gave the final stroke 
From which the monster died. 

Our Soldiers' Decoration Day ! 

We spread a floral pall 
On ofraves of North, and South alike — 

Our Country lost them all. 

Here let us bridge the chasm o'er 

Of fratricidal strife, 
And stronger bind the welded link* 

Which ijuards our Nation's- life. 

Now, Freedom reigns o'er all the plains 

Throughout this vast domain ; 
The forge has turned to pruning-hooks 



191 



What once were o-allin<jf chains. 



■ Liberty and Equity. 



192 OUR COUNTRY. 

Our flag now waves in ampler folds 

On every land and sea ; 
'Midst shot and shell has reigned supreme, 

Ensign of Liberty. 

O, eagle ! rise on loftiest wing, 
Ring forth the tuneful lyre, 

Till Freedom's orjorious harmonies 
Each Nation shall inspire, 

Till Liberty, as free as thought, 

In equity shall reign, 
And Truth and Science build a forore 

To weld the golden chain.* 



♦Liberty and Equity. 



WELDED LINKS. 



193 



NATURE'S OFFERING. 







HERE the leaves shall talk to^reth 



<ir#ffii3 ^x-^iv^ Liic lcdvc^. biiaii raiK: toeetner 
1|^/^ '^"^^ ^^^^ answering- waters sigh ; 

1W Where all nature joins the choral, 
(_, Tiny insect, buzzing fly, — 

There the tiowers ope their petals 
Looking- upward to the sky, 

In their face of wondrous beauty 
Offer incense well as I. 



And the lowing of the cattle 

Answering to the call amain, 

And of th' heifer by the brooklet, 
As she joins in the refrain. 



194 NATURES offp:rix(;. 

With her neck stretched out and upward, 
With her meek and wistful eye, 

Worships God in every impulse 
Well as you, O Saint, or I. 

Nature all joins in the anthem, 

Sings a song least understood ; 

There's no offering half so ample 
As the wild, primeval wood. 

Sings she in her leafy branches, 

Sinofs she in her clusterinir vines, 

Offers worship in the zephyrs 

Whispering through majestic pines. 

There the silver-luted songsters 

Sing their vestal h\'mns of praise, 

And their worship is as grateful 

As the Psalmist's sweetest lays. 



WELDED LINKS. 

And the poor, unlettered Red-men, 
Wanderinir in ancestral wood, 

Have communings with the Father, 
With the Spirit of all Good. 

In the innocence of childhood, 

In the unheard breath of prayer, 

In the silent tear of sorrow, 

Dwells the Lord God even there. 



195 



i96 LITTLE LOST BOY. 



LITTLE LOST BOY. 



^^ LITTL.E child wandered away from his home, 
i^ His bed was the way-side, his pillow a stone ; 
"jfJ^ And he dreamed, as he slept on that way-side bed, 
1 That a little black raven had fed him with bread. 



He dreamed that an angel stood near where he lay, 
And the darkness of night fled quickly away ; 
His bed became roses, the pillow a ray 
Of brightest soft sunshine where his little head lay. 

A tear drop was glist'ning in the little boy's eye, 
The angel smiled on him, the tear became dry. 
And he saw his dear mother bend close o'er his bed, 
Yet the little boy knew that his mother was dead. 



WELDED LINKS. I97 

His orarments were tattered, his little feet bare, 
And matted the locks of his long golden hair ; 
But he dreamed that he shone with a radiance bright, 
And his garments grew dazzling, and wondrously 
white. 

And his mother then touched him with a golden-like 

wand, 
And lifted her little lost son by the hand ; 
And the mother and child then wended their way — 
Over houses, and hill-tops, the earth sped away. 

And higher, still higher they rose on the air, 
Heard voices seraphic, melodious and fair ; 
And a wonderful light shone out from the throne. 
And the little boy knew he was then nearing home. 

Home! home! the angel and mother have taken 

him home, 
No more mid sorrows, or cross-roads to roam, 



198 LITTLE LOST BOY. 

No more by the way-side to lie down and die, 
The Httle boy home, with his mother on high. 



MOTTO. 



Despise not the humble, the lowly, the poor, 
For he who does well is the only well-doer. 



WELDED LINKS. 199 



IS THERE NO GOD? 

Pf S well talk of a city's having been built without 
!^ artisans 

%^ As the heavens assuming their grand proportions, 
I Without a Master Mechanic ; 

Or the distillation of sweet perfumes 
Without the chemist's fixtures ; 
And yet the earth is made odorous 
From mountain top to meadow lands 
And forest glades, 

By the distillation of inimitable fragrance, 
Dispensed from a laboratory as enduring as it is 
unseen. 



200 



SOCIAL GLASS, 



SOCIAL GLASS. 



"lis? VERY social glass taken is but one of the many 

|fe4 steps 

M^ In the stair-way descending to the pit ; 

A 

And they lead on slowly but surely 
To charnel houses of woe, 
Whence none but an omnipotent arm 
May wrest therefrom. 



Then away with the bowl, 
Tis death to the soul ; 
Away with King Bacchus forever. 
We'll drink no more wine;, 
'Tis bad in our time, 



WELDED LINKS. 20I 

'Twas bad in the days of old Noah : 

So our drink shall be 

The water that's free, 
That courses through mountain and river; 

It runs in the rills, 

From the tall steepled hills. 
To the bosom of ocean forever ; 

Thence rising on high, 

Forms clouds in the sky, 
And in rain-drops revisits the earth ; 

So pure drink shall be — 

Distilled from the sea, 
And not from the worm of the still; 

For that will give pain, 

'Twill madden the brain. 
And ruin whoever doth touch it. 

" 'Twill bite like a serpent, 

Like an adder will sting;" 



!02 SOCIAL GLASS. 

'Twill ruin the home, and sorrow will bring 
To all who indulge in its use. 

Then give us the drink Jehovah hath made, 
As it ripples, and dances through forest and glade ; 
As it sports through the valley, and winds to the sea, 
Refreshing the landscape, the mountain and lea. 



WELDED LINKS. 20' 



QUERY. 



f^ii^^l^ N my words, or my deeds 



'isv:. 




Wi^ 



^ Shall I live when I'm dead ? 
Will the world be the better 
For something I've said, 
Some good to humanity given ? 

If 'tis nay, better die 

As the beasts live and die, 

Or as worms that crawl on the ground 

A breath of existence 

Like a fleck on the sky. 

The world not bettered ! 

For what was to die, 

But the shell — 

Which turns back to the orround. 



204 PAP-PA COME HOME AGAIN. 



PAP.PA COME HOME AGAIN. 



vfOlf HE winter snows were falling fast, 
W^0^ The winds were blowing high 
|k And dark and dismal were the clouds — 



I 



That overcast the sky. 

In yonder place with windows screened 

The revelry ran wild ; 
Nor heeded they within that house 

The need of wife or child. 

But over there 'crost moor and hill 

The little ones await — 
The coming of their pap-pa home, 

The hour is growing late. 



WELDED LINKS. 20- 

There at the window, see them stand, 

Their faces press the glass ; 
They're looking out into the storm — 

Lest their pap-pa should pass. 

"What think you keeps our pa so late" 

These prattling infants say; 
Oh, will he never more come home 

I know 'tis almost day, 

" We scarcely dare one word to speak, 

Poor mamma is so ill ; 
We know that he is over there — 

Within that whiskey-mill." 

" Poor mamma tosses restlessly 

Upon her fevered bed. 
And utters now and then a moan 

She fears pap-pa is dead." 



2o6 PAP-PA COME HOME AGAIN. 

" For sure he once was good and kind, 
He would not stay away 

And leave her with us little ones 
From dark till dawn of day." 

*' But since he went to yonder mill, 
A whiskey shop they say, 

He does not read his bible now, 
Nor does he stop to pray." 

" He does not kiss poor mamma now 
As once he used to do ; 

But turns from her so cold away 
And from us children too." 

" O pap-pa dear, do please come home, 
We miss you more and more. 

What heavy sound is that I hear ! 
'Tis pap-pa at the door." 



WELDED LINKS. -O? 

" Poor mamma crawls from out her bed, 

She now unlocks the door; 
And pap-pa stumbles in the house, 

Falls drunk upon the floor." 

" O mamma ! mamma please don't cry 
We're glad pap-pa's come home, 

We'll help you press a-shut the door, 
We're glad he's not alone." 

" Out in the cold, and blinding storm, 

The night's so very wild ; 
But pap-pa ! pap-pa will not speak 

To neither wife nor child." 

" O pap-pa ! can't you wake up now ? 

You seem so dreadful cold : 
We'll pull the blankets from the bed 

And round you them will fold." 



20S PAP-PA COME HOME AGAIN. 

Ah me ! the blankets cannot warm 
His cold, and lifeless frame; 

Poor pap-pa never more will speak- 
To ma or us again. 

MORAL. 

O men, why not be good, and true, 
And vote just as you pray ? 

You license gin, and whiskey mills 
But pray the other way. 

No whiskey mills can ever help 
God's kingdom to come in ; 

Nor license high, nor license low, 
Can mitigate the sin. 



MAXIM. 

Angels are our unseen- 
Daily companions. 



WELDED LINKS. 20g 



SONG OF WARNING. 







I HERE'S a day in the future; O sinner 'tis 



'^ When the King in his glory shall come from 
on high ; 
The Just at the sound of the trump shall arise 
And with Christ their Saviour mount up to the skies. 

What brightness is rifting the dark leaden sky ? 
What glory ! what glory descends from on high ; 
What rapturous music I hear from the saints, 
No sighing, no sorrow, nor word of complaint. 

But O me ! ah me how sad is the fate, 
Of those who shall cry 'tis too late.^* 'tis too late; 
Their robes all unwashed, with sins they are full, 
Jesus would cleanse them, yea whiter than wool. 



2IO SONG OF WARNING. 

His offers rejected, they turned him away! 
Though Jesus was calling them day unto day; 
The blood from his side was flowing so free, 
And I knew that those wounds were opened foi thee. 

But still they persisted in sin's downward path 
Until they fell under the ban of his wrath ; 
And when they would fly from the sins that they hate 
I hear but one cry, "'tis too late, Oh too late." 

Then turn sinners, turn, why will ye delay, 
Come plunge in the fountain that's opened to-day; 
Then when Jesus shall cause the dead to awake 
Ye may not cry out, 'tis too late ! Oh too late. 

Blest Saviour! Dear Saviour, they're coming to thee, 
Their sins which are many, nailed Thee on the tree; 
But yet thou'rt forgiving, and freely doth say — 
Thy sins though like scarlet I now wash away. 



WELDED LINKS. 211 

Oh glory! Oh glory what rapture abounds 
Through the chancels of heaven the echo resounds 
That mercy, and pardon O sinner is free, 
And Jesus our Saviour stands pleading for thee, 

CHORUS. 

Then come! Sinners come, oh do not delay, 
For Jesus just now is passing this way; 
The hem of His garment come touch if you will 
And Jesus will bid all your sorrow " be still." 



MAXIM. 



Death is a pearly bridge 
To a beautiful city. 



212 THE PRODIGALS SONG. 



THE PRODIGAL'S SONG. 



j^^ 



Vetf 



r||H^,EART worn and weary, head aching with pain, 



M 



M 



^.V 



-^ Tired of pleasures that bring me no gain ; 



4^ Weary, so weary ! Oh where is the way — 
j Back to the old fireside where father doth pray? 



I've wandered through brambles, and trodden on 

thorns, 
I've sought for gay pleasures amid the wild throngs ; 
Weary, so weary ! Oh can I return — 
Where th' heart fire of love on th' home altar doth 

burn ? 

Oh is there no fountain of life giving health. 

Where the soul may regain its lost storehouse of 

wealth ? 
No deep crystal fountain, no health-giving pool 
Where the soul may be washed yea whiter than wool ? 



WELDED LINKS. 2 1 

CHORUS. 

Hark ! list to the music, a bright angel choir 
With songs most seraphic, and tongues like of fire ; 
Are chanting me home away from my sin. 
Where Jesus is bringing poor prodigals in. 



ONE OF GOD'S DAYS. 

1^ 



NE of God's own days 



m 

1^5^ And are not all days? 

p Yes, but then some days seem unusually so- 
So full of opportunities for doing good, 
For rendering others happy, 
And for sending gladness 
Down into the store-house of our own souls. 
On one of those special days 
I had visited the cliff. 
Where the sea foams' restless wave, — 
Ever beats hard or soft — 



2 14 ONE OF GODS DAYS. 

Against the gray and sanded breast — 

Of ocean's pulseless shore. 

Talking may be in melancholy dirge, 

Of the wealth treasured up in her cavernous depths, 

Or swelling a sigh for some lone mariner — 

Who had gone down uncoffined to her fathomless 

abyss. 
Or perhaps, in playful glee, telling of gentle fairies. 
Who among sea shells play at " hide and seek " 
Amid the tangled tresses of the deep ; 
Or where mermaids dwell as free as air. 
And with fresh corals twine their streaming hair. 
Leaving the fascinating beauty of ocean s changeful 

wave, 
And returning back to the busy mart of San Francisco 
With a bouquet of flowers in my hand, a real fairy. 
Not one from ocean's sea shell depths. 
But one who might have been a Queen or Empress, 
So beautiful was she. O ! such eyes ! 



WELDED LINKS. 215 

I shall never forget them ; 

And such marvelous beauty of face, accosted me — 

As I was threading my way through the busy streets, 

With, " Please be so kind as to give me a flower ? " 

Startled from my reverie, like one waking from sleep, 

For I was in a dreaming, half-abstracted mood. 

Scarce understanding what was meant, 

I said, " What did you say ? " 

And Oh ! those eyes again lifted up their wondrous 

beauty. 
And with an angel's silvery tongue, 
Again repeated the words 
Which had roused me from my reverie. 
Looking down through those deep hazel eyes 
Into her charming soul, for so I seemed to do, 
I stammered out, for I scarcely knew what I uttered, 
" Yes, you little, human darling;" 
And I ought to have said " Divine Darling," 
For such she was. 
Up looked again those enchanting eyes. 



2l6 ONE OF god's DAYS. 

" Which one ? " 

"Any one you like." 

" This one ? " 

"Yes; pull it out." 

And the daintiest little fingers tugged away 

Until the chosen flower was liberated from its com- 
panions. 

And with it there went down into that fairy's heart a 
sunbeam ; 

And when some cloud of sorrow may, 

Perchance, sprinkle its tear-drops upon her bosom, 

That sunbeam, 

Will reflect back its rainbow tints upon her soul. 

And the joy expressed in that fairy's face. 

Sent a stream of gladness down into my own heart — 

(Warming to its very depths the quick 

Responsive impulses of my own nature; 

And I well understood the meaning of the words 

Of that great Philosopher, 

"Of such little children) is the kingdom of Heaven." 



WELDED LINKS. 21 7 

A TRUE STORY— GEORGE AND HIS 
BOTTLE. 



IjplC LITTLE boy once to his bottle was wed 
^^ He nursed it by day, and took it to bed ; 



% 



ei He would romp, and would play, 
And his mother would say — 
" Now my dear little boy, put the bottle away." 



But this was a task the boy could not stand. 
So he tugged it about in his little chub hand ; 
And he worried, and cried whenever she tried — 
To put the bottle away from his side. 

On one occasion he was going to town, — (Pittsburg). 
And the bottle for sure he now must lay down; 
And he missed it so much, I cannot tell why, 
But he was too proud to set up a cry. 



2lS A TRUE STORY GEORGE AND HIS BOTTLE. 

Then he conned it all over, and thought he would 

save — 
Himself, from being a little boy slave. 
So alone by himself " put the bottle away " 
Down in the closet in secret to stay. 
And then to his mother this little boy hied 
To tell her with gladness, and evident pride 
How he himself " put the bottle away," 
Never again the little wee baby to play. 
Like a winsome and wise little elf — 
He archly would say, " I've quit the bottle myself." 

He found it was hard this resolve now to keep : 

For he needed the bottle on going to sleep ; 

So he tossed, and he tumbled, and rolled on his bed 

Till the clock had struck ten ; 

Then to his pap-pa the little boy cried — 

How does a man feel just before he has died ? 



WELDED LINKS. 2ig 

Answering the child, the father then said, 

"I do not know! some men feel one way, and some 

feel another 
Just before they are dead." 

" Well, does he feel dear father, 'tis his very last 

breath 
Is that how it is just before a man's death ? " 
So wearied, and tired he pillowed his head 
ArA slept till the morning, his hour to awake 
The time when his bottle would usually take. 
" Mamma ! " " what do you wish my child ? " 
" Nothing at all," as faintly he smiled 
He turned himself over again went to sleep 
While the closet in safety his bottle did keep. 

His was a struggle, where many have failed. 

Where manhood in strength has faltered and quailed ; 



220 A TRUE STORY GEORGE AND HIS BOTTLE. 

Are ye ready ye men stronger of frame — 
To acknowledge ye cannot your manhood regain ? 
To confess ye cannot from drink turn away, 
From the cup of dragons which surely will slay ? 

Have ye less of manhood than the boy of but four, 

That ye shall cry to the drink demon give us still more 

To give up the cup, is even like death 

Is it like taking your very last breath ? 

Then fight the grim monster, ne'er be a slave 

Go like a freeman down to your grave ; 

Put the bottle away, and quit it yourself, 

Be as much of a man, as the four year old elf, 



MAXIM. 

Those we call dead, died not, 
But rose to higher life. 



DESTINY, 221 



DESTINY. 



I^^^ESTINY is a spreading out on the canvas of 

Time 
'J^"^ The revealed conceptions of God's purposes, 

Which have been inlaid in the maofnetic cable 



Which have been inlaid in the m%. 
of eternal thought, 
To be separated into knots and skeins, 
As warp and woof on the reel of eternity, 
And from thence to be woven, by the mystic shuttles of 
irresistible will. 



In the loom of incomparable Majesty, 
Into faultless fabrics, with which to clothe 
The perfection of illimitable works : 
The tapestry of mortal life. 
The adornments of earth and skv, 



222 WELDED LINKS. 

The glory of angels, the bliss of saints, 

Are but the inimitable patterns 

Of the Almighty design, 

Transferred to the objects for which they were designed. 

The developments of each day, both in time and eternity, 

Are but the results of the unfoldments 

Of the Almighty's purpose. 

Liberated from the girdle which encompasses Divine will. 

Who shall stay the Lord's intent, 

Or who subvert Flis mighty plan ? 

The various manifestations presented for human observa- 
tion, 
Are as natural a sequence as the cycle of changing seasons ! 
Time is the mighty power which unrolls the coil 
Wherein is deposited the secret intents of the Lord, 
The people which are yet to walk this earth ; 
The statesmen which are to manipulate the affairs of 
nations yet unborn ; 



DESTINY. 223 

The orators, poets, and scholars 

Who are to electrify human intelligence in the centuries 

Which lie folded back in the swaddling-clothes of God's 

intent, 
Liv^e in the chemical processes of the Almighty, 
As veritably as do they whose quickened pulse 
Speed them on to the unknown. 
The revolutions of day and night. 
The changing seasons, the fall of rain, 
Summer's heat and winter's snow. 
Spring-time and harvest, 
The rushing into life of animate nature, 
And the created beauties of a vast creation. 
Are but the letting out of the illimitable sail 
Which is reefed in the mechanical skill of Omnipotence. 
Creation has not been the subject of chance. 
Neither was disorder brought out of chaos. 
Everything has developed in harmony. 
Showing a fitness of each for the adaptability 
Of that which should come after. 



224 WELDED LINKS. 

The creations of to-day are the foundations 

Upon which the morrow builds its edifice ; 

So in the untold decade of centuries, 

Each has builded its pyramid of colossal progress 

Upon the dome of its predecessor, 

Each reaching nearer and still nearer 

The perfection of its antitype. 

By what strange power to us is given, 
The life, for which we have not striven, 

Yet held responsible } 
Developed from unconscious state, 
Brouo^ht into life a beinof crreat — 

Commensurate with God. 

This power which first our life controlled, 
Is the great Author of our soul ; 

And is our first prime cause: 
And shall He have of us less care, 
Since we His conscious creatures are, 

And He our Father God ? 



DESTINY. 

The world He holds at His command, 
Sun, moon and stars rest in His hand, 

And man His greatest care; 
Submissive to this God is man. 
And only second, in the plan 

Of all His wondrous works. 

Brought into life for noble cause, 
A part and parcel of God's laws, 

Which cannot be destroyed ; 
With His existence ours shall run, 
Though wane the earth and fade the sun, 

Triumphant still is man. 

What matter where in space he dwell, 
Jupiter, Venus, Mars, or hell. 

Since God reigns everywhere.? 
He fills immensity oi space, 
Where He is not, there is no place, 

And where He is, there's Heaven. 



225 



226 



WELDED LINKS. 



MYSTIC STATION. 



Xc^W 



HERE'S a station ahead! 
I know not the place, 
'W^ An angel there vvaiteth 
My form to embrace. 



0^ 



His breath it is chill, 
His hand it is cold ; 

This angel hath conquered 
The nations of old. 



No man may resist him, 
And none say him i^y ; 

His mandates imperi6u^', 
Which all must obey. 



MYSTIC STATION. 2 27 

Men falter before him, 

The stout-hearted quail ; 
No words of entreaty 

With him may avail. 



He spares not the aged, 
Nor pities the youth : 

This Angel obeyeth 
The spirit of Truth. 



22; 



^YELDED LINKS. 



RUM-SELLER. 




i_ OT rum alone shall bear the curse 
\ Which thy traffic doth to man disburse ; 
Thou hast scattered tares, and death hath sown 
In the souls of those God called His own. 



That fair, young boy, a mother's pride, 
By your direful trade a drunkard died ; 
And that household draped in awful woe 
Is a curse which from your rum-shops flow. 



That father, by the road-side drunk, 
That brother, in debauchery sunk, 
That pale young wife with tearful face. 
Bowled with the shame of man's disgrace. 



RUM-SELLER. 

That mother's agronizinQ- heart, 
Her trembhng fear, her sudden start 
As she hears her boy's leaden step, 
When vigils late at night she kept ; 

When his reeling form came stagg'ring in, 
Debauched with rum and steeped in sin, — 
All these, rum-seller, will be arrayed 
To curse the awful traffic of your trade. 

Nor shall excuses serve you when 
God in His justice visits men ; 
For then, rum-seller, thou shalt stand 
Wearing on thy brow the felon's brand. 

What will avail thy hoarded gold 
Gained by the rum which thou hast sold, 
When conscience, furnace fierce, shall burn 
Where'er thy restless steps shall turn ! 



229 



2^0 



WELDED LINKS. 

When th' grave gives up her sleeping dead. 
And drunkards rise from ashen beds, 
Oh ! then, rum-seller, thou shalt feel 
A o-rief not heaven nor hell can heal. 

What then shall be thy deep remorse. 
When thou shalt see full many a corpse 
Rise up again, and come in flame 
To charge on thee his fall and shame. 

That little babe on famished breast. 
That mother, robbed of peace and rest, 
That father's bowed and trembling form, 
That sister's plea which thou didst scorn. 

That drunkard's aofonizintr woe. 
His mind bereft of reason's glow, — 
These, too, shall come in burninc: flame 
To witness thy remorse and shame. 



RUM-SELLER. 23 1 

What of the homes in ruin laid, 
And of the orphans thou hast made ! 
What of the prisons and the jails 
Crowded with those thou hast assailed, 

And of the festering crowd that leer, 
x'\nd stagger downward, year by year, 
To fill full sixty thousand graves, — 
The garnered crop of whisky slaves ! 

O righteous Judge! is mercy found 
For men who have their neighbors bound, 
And shackled them with galling chains. 
Enslaving reason, soul, and brain ? 

Woe to the men, whose mingled drink 
Shall drive their neighbors o'er the brink 
Where hope is lost, and fell despair 
Sits crouching in that dreadful lair! 



232 WELDED LINKS. 



RUM AND ITS VICTIMS. 



^2^EE staggering hosts of drunkards ! 



^^^ Their homes of squalor and woe, 

Their wives sad creatures of sorrow, 
Whose anguish God only can know. 

Their children avoided by others, 
Sad subjects of scorn or of fun, 
Their father's a jest for the buffoon, 
Miseiable victims of rum. 

The reeling form of the drunkard — 
His mind, 'tis beclouded with rum ; 
His reason lost in the wine cup ; 
Hopes of both soul and body undone. 



RUM AND ITS VICTIMS. 

See the appalling- procession ! 
Their agony, woe, and their tears. 
See th' blighted hopes of their victims, 
The misery crowning their years. 

The cupboard guiltless of comfort, 
The walls that are bare and th' floor, 
The crrief that looks out from th' window, 
The wolf that stands gaunt at th' door. 

The wife, sad creature of sorrow, 
With her children hungry for bread ; 
The pallet of straw in the corner, 
Their only excuse for a bed. 

Oh ! could I but paint these for you 
With the nights of watching and pain, 
When th' wife in her anguish sought you 
In the cold, in the sleet, and the rain. 



234 WELDED DINKS. 

Shiv'rinsf with chill at the corner 
While anxiously waiting for you, 
Her orarments clunor to her ficrure 
Bespangled with fresh-fallen dew. 

See the complete desolation, 
The ruin which round them befell ; 
No promise of cheer for the drunkard; 
In his life the torments of hell. 

Manacles forged for his body, 
And manacles forged for his soul, 
Manacles forced for his freedom 
Debar him from life's fairest goal. 

Think of this then, O my brother — 
Think of this, humanity's friend — 
Think of the sorrow and angfuish 
Your ballot to households may send. 



RUM AND ITS VICTIMS. 235 

Think of the wild storm of sorrow 
Of th' victim whom rum hath becruiled ! 
Think of the grief of his mother, 
Oh, think of the grief of his child ! 

See them in the night's sad watches 
As they wait for the late one's return ; 
See them as they watch at the wicket 
For their husband, brother, or son. 

The fire burns low on the hearth-stone, 

And the oil burns low in the lamp ; 

Still at the wicket they're watching. 

Till their garments hang limp with th' damp. 

The light is burning o'er yonder ; 
One by one the customers go : 
Some are pale with a drunken pallor, 
Some are flushed with a ruby glow. 



236 WELDED LINKS. 

Hark ! there's the sound of a foot-fall, 
The unsteady step as it comes ; 
'Tis a raving, stagg'ring maniac — 
This ! this is the victim of rum. 

Tell me, O Christ, my Redeemer, 
Thou more than brother or friend, 
Is there no hope for the drunkard. 
No solace Thy gospel can send ? 

No mighty power in Thee to save 
Th' rum-enslaved from a drunkard's grave ? 
No power to stay death's tidal flow, 
Which surges in the ruby glow ? 

Angels drape their wings to behold 
Th' barter of souls for glittering gold. 
And wing their way with mournful sigh 
Wherever wretched drunkards die. 



RUM AND ITS VICTIMS. 237 

A future, dark, breaks on their view 
When falls death's pale and leaden hue ; 
Their souls are lashed before their God 
With conscience's unrelenting rod. 

O deep remorse, how sharp the sting 
An outraged conscience memories bring! 
How deep the wall, what bitter grief ! 
No Siloam's pool affords relief. 

In deep despair they turn away 
Where hope scarce yields a gilded ray. 
And this their agonizing cry : 
Behold, how wretched drunkards die ! 

And back to Heaven they send a wail 
Which doth the powers of rum assail ; 
There, a righteous judgment's given — 
That rum hath robbed these souls of Heaven. 



230 WELDED LINKS. 

O mad'ning rum ! what hast thou done ? 
Murdered father, brother and son, 
Delucred the world with black'nino- crime. 
Trailing thy form through th' ruby wine. 

Oh, the rum, the accursed rum ! 
The sun turns pale at th' work you've done, 
And night's stars blush with crimson hue. 
While th' heavens shed tears in gHst'ning dew 



DIVINEST PLAN. 



239 




DIVINEST PLAN. 

f H, I despise the man of shame 

Who toys with woman's priceless name, 
And hurls her down the wild abyss, 
Like Christ betrayed with Judas' kiss. 



I pity her with fallen name, 
Who, trusting, brought herself to shame, 
Descending down to low estate, — 
Crowned jewel, now so desolate. 

I marvel not the only note 
That's handed down which Jesus wrote 
Was like a God — free to forgive : 
"Sin now no more: go thou and live." 

Then let us emulate the King, 
Nor haste ihe accusation brino- • 
Forgive the woman, as the man. 
Since this is Heaven's divinest plan. 



240 



WELDED LINKS. 



TO A RECKLESS YOUNG MAN ON 
THE DEATH OF HIS MOTHER. 

qfi^f YOUNG man ! thou mayest remember 

i| Thy mother's love was strong and tender; 
Not sorrow's cloud, nor death's cold wave, 
Nor narrow confines of the grave, 
Can chill her love for thee. 




She'll hear thy prayer and deep-drawn sigh, 
See gathering tear-drops in thine eye ; 
And when temptations shroud thy way. 
Thy mother then will watch and pray — 
Will watch and pray for thee. 

Ah, then she'll fly from courts above, 
Drawn by the mighty power of love ; 
To save her son in some dread hour. 
When temptations fierce assert their power, 
She then will near thee be. 



TO A RECKLESS YOUTH ON HIS MOTHER'S DEATH. 24 1 

Thou can'st not now escape her view, 
Her spirit love so strong and true ; 
Untrammeled by this mortal sphere, 
She'll follow thee though far or near — 
She still will follow thee, 

Remember then thy mother dear 
Will follow thee though far or near ; 
In every haunt where thou mav'st sm, 
Thy mother too will come within — 
Will come e'en there to save. 



242 



WELDED LINKS. 



'TIS TRUE. 




IS true indeed, time crowds us on 
Amid the busy strife ; 
'^ly^ To where 'tis weal or where 'tis woe- 

'Tis not our choice in hfe. 



Our destiny's as surely fixed 

As is the season's tiow ; 
And man drifts down the tide of Hfe, 

To where no man can know. 



WINE IS A MOCKER 



24: 



"WINE IS A MOCKER." 









s?f4* 



^-N the cup of subtle pleasure a thousand fu- 
ries kindle the altar of their sacrifices on the 
$W hurninfr elements of the soul's discomfiture, 
1^ and with the cunning sagacity of a vulture 
swoop down into the sanctuary of man's strongest 
citadel, stealing away the proudest emporium of his 
manhood, leaving but the wreck of a desolated temple 
on which God had put the signet of His approba- 
tion. 

So inductive are its machinations, that the wisdom 
c>f the sage has been pronounced against looking 
upon or tasting the seductive thing. 

.'\t the marriage feast, wdiere holiest vows are 
pledged, it associates itself in the convivialities of the 
occasion, concealing in its fruits of pleasure a terrible 



244 WELDED LINKS 

holocaust that may eventually consume upon its altar 
all the promised hopes and brightest prospects of 
this new elysiuin. 

In the halls of state it presents its fascinations, 
kindling the eye and firing the l)rain with a new en- 
thusiasm, as eloquent and grand in its effect as it is 
subtle to destroy. The first cup which bedews the 
lip with its nectar may be the cloud whose magni- 
tude shall assume proportions as vast as the area of 
one's mortal existence. Yea, it may bridge over into 
the hereafter, requiring the majesty of the Infinite to 
bid its hideousness depart into everlasting darkness, 
leaving to be mourned by angels the wreck of its 
machinations. 

Fair woman, the right hand and queenly support 
of man, with the sublimity of her exalted and symmet- 
rical nature, bearing the ancient royal high crown of 
chief workmanship of Jehovah, has been assailed in all 
the purity and strength of her godlike being by this 
insidious foe, and like withered leaves has fallen 



" WINE IS A MOCKER." 245 

from the places she once graced and glorified, to join 
the lamentable ranks of the riotous caravan which 
move in the wake of the still ; the faces that once 
rejoiced at her coming blanch with fear at her ap- 
proach, and the places that once knew her know her 
no more forever ; the child, sweet plight of love, who 
fondled in her caress and caroled its glee upon her 
bosom, shudders at her name. The fond husband, 
who doted upon a trusting, loving wife, laments her 
in the desolation of her glory, in the despoliation of 
wife and mother. 

O sisters, daughters, wives and mothers, that cup 
of sparkling burgundy, the exhilarating champagne, 
has in it a foe more deadly than the effects of the 
upas ! It contains vials of wrath as terrible as 
the seven seals ; from out of it shall issue scorpions 
that shall sting with terror the immortal spirit ; it is 
the foe, than which there is none other so much to 
be dreaded, so carefully to be shunned. No pool of 
Siloam can cleanse its leprous spots, no healing stream 



246 WELDED LINKS. 

can wash its record clear, no Christ can be its propi- 
tiator : heaven has set its fiat against it, and the curse 
of the Infinite consigns it to outer darkness. It is a 
foe, the stench of whose crime reaches unto heaven ; it 
assails the souls whom God has created ; it is the de- 
spoiler of all that is emblematic of truth, wisdom, 
purity, excellence, and love. It tears man down, with 
its pinched fingers of death, from his high estate of 
sonship to God, reducing him to squalid spiritual, in- 
tellectual, and moral beggary ; transforms the proud, 
kingly elements of his manhood beneath the degra- 
dation of the swine, and in loathsomeness renders 
him more disgusting than the serpent which God con- 
signed to crawl on its belly all the days of its life. 
Of all fiends it is the arch one, that goes to-day 
" up and down the earth, seeking whom it may 
devour," and in the subtleness of its deceit assails 
the sanctuaries of heaven, and would wrest from the 
treasury of Jehovah the costliest gems created to 
emblazon his coronet. For its despoliation what has 



"WINE IS A MOCKER. 247 

it to offer ? — naught but room for another victim. The 
insatiable maw of its foul desires are ever crying", 
Give ! give ! and there comes from yonder dishon- 
ored mound a warning voice, Beware of the wine 
" when it giveth its color in the cup." 

From the culprit trembling 'neath the halter which 
is to send his soul unbidden into the ])resence of its 
Creator, there to answer for a crime jierpetratcd un- 
der the influence of this matchless tiend ; from the 
vacant seats of les'islative halls, where once was 
heard the silver rhythm of the voice of oratory that 
thrilled with admiration and awe the enrapt list- 
ener with its inimitable flow of musical cadences; 
from the bar, the absence of the dead counselor, 
whose pleadings caused the stalwart fame and stout- 
est heart to treml)le, and wet the bronzed cheek with 
tears from eyes long unaccustomed to weep — all these 
cry out in speechless eloquence, Lo. how are the 
mighty fallen by the bewitchmg allurements 1} ing 
latent m the fascinations of the wme-cup ; 



248 WELDED LINKS. 

Who shall answer before that God who judges im- 
partially for the debauchery of the midnight ca- 
rousal ? or who, in the final summing up of the trial 
which shall adjudge the acts of each one's life, shall 
be held responsible for the crimes which bereave in- 
nocent ones of their natural protectors ? It may be 
she who is the proudest ornament of princely palaces, 
and the devotee of fashionable sociabilities of the most 
cultured and refined of modern society, whose be- 
jeweled hand unwittingly proffers, to him who is to 
be the future guardian of her happiness, in the glass of 
sparkling champagne the incipient elements from 
which shall issue the fell destroyer that shall blight 
with a deadly blast all their prospects on the voyage 
of life so auspiciously begun, and bring them both 
down to the sorrows of an untimely and dishonored 
grave, leaving no memories behind them, save those 
the recollection of which shall cause the flushed cheek 
of friends to tin2:le with sorrow and shame. 

The doting mother, who offers to her son of yet 



" WINE IS A MOCKER." 249 

infant years sips from out her cup of toddy, may 
stand before God as the condemned culprit, responsi- 
ble for the blackening crimes her debauched son has 
perpetrated under the influence of liquor, the uncon- 
trollable appetite having been acquired and fostered 
by the indulgence of a loving and unsuspecting 
mother. The ignorance with which the seeds of a 
holocaust are sown renders not the fires less destruc- 
tive. 

No longer is the sin of ignorance winked at, and 
its dreadful effects are mowing down with a remorse- 
less swath the most promising and brilliant of our 
land. 

The gospel of an enlightened, orthodox, temper- 
ance salvation is as vastly needed to-day in the church 
as its effects are wanted outside the pale of its sanc- 
tuary ; and if a redeemer should be sent to this world 
from the high dome of heaven, methinks his benefi- 
cient mission would be to promulgate the salutary 
gospel of total abstinence. 



250 WELDED LINKS. 

So oflarine have become the crimes induced bv the 
use of alcohoHc drinks, so aggressive is its warfare 
against the best good and morals of society, so insid- 
ious in its effects upon the intellectual, moral, spirit- 
ual, and physical being of those who indulge in its use, 
that an illuminated pronunciamento against it should 
be inscribed on the lintels of the doors and windows 
of the residences of all order-loving citizens. 

On the chancel of churches, side by side with 
" Holiness to the Lord," should be inscribed in 
golden characters, " Wine is a mocker, strong drink 
is raging, and whosoever is deceived thereby is not 
wise." 

At the entrance of every avenue of the heart, 
crowning each i)age of the affectional nature, and on 
each lintel of the chambers of the soul, should be sus- 
pended a flaming sword, forever to wage a holy war- 
fare against the improper and uiiholy use of this, the 
most destructive element that now^ thrusts itself 
broadcast upon our land. The curse of strong drink 



"WINE IS A MOCKER." 25 I 

is like the forbidden fruit, of which in the day that 
one partakes thereof he shall surely die, sav^e only 
as God by His divine interposition may in mercy 
wrest him from the grasp of this fatal adversary of 
both soul and body. 

At the wicket gate, where King Alcohol gains ad- 
mission to set up his demoniacal kingdom in God's 
earthiv temple, I would station, in active force, fully 
armed and equipped, all the battalions of the will 
power, which with the aid of Almighty God are able 
to withstand any foe from without. The active use 
of each faculty of the will to resist temptation of any 
kuid increases its objective force an hundredfold. 

The effect of intemperance is to cast both soul and 
body into everlasting fires, such as are only fitted for 
the devil and his angels ; and to this declaration what 
man or woman who has felt its flames kindling stom- 
ach, brain, and soul with its consuming fires would 
not give his or her hearty attestation ? 

To lull the insatiable demands which the fires of 



252 WELDED LINKS. 

liquor kindle, the poor, iielpless victim cries, " I must 
have rum ! give me rum ! " each draught of which adds 
a new invoice of devils to the legion which is rending 
his poor, distressed physical and spiritual ship- 
wrecked soul and body. 

I once knew a lady who had been raised in the lap 
of luxury, but who had become a victim of the wine- 
cup by its use at her father's house when a child ; in 
a fit of wild delirium she madly cried out, " Drink ! 
drink ! orive me drink !" and seeino; her father stand- 
in": in the room, she said, "O father ! this is the in- 
heritance you have bequeathed to me." 

What has King Alcohol to offer in compensation 
for this sacrifice of the dignity and nobility of wom- 
anhood ? And what does he offer in recompense for 
her fall, and her worship at his shrine? What Satan 
offered to Christ if he would fall down and worship 
Him — all the kingdoms of the earth ? By no means. 
This corked-up, bottled, and labeled modern Sa- 
tan, for worship and kinship to him offers, first, de- 



"WINE IS A MOCKER." 253 

tluonement of womanhood, alien from God ; and, 
as a rule, robs of earthly treasure, clothes the soul 
with horror and dismay, and leaves his victim, in the 
misery of her despair, to call wildly hut fruit lesslv 
upon the rocks and mountains of forgetfulness to 
hide from the presence of the condemn i no- Judi^e of 
an oLitracred conscience, from the maledictions of 
wdiich there is no escape. 

The demoniacal consuming fiend has taken up his 
habitation in the soul, his deadly fangs liave pierced 
the spirit, and when his victim would escape him he 
thrusts him down and rends him, the power of the 
Omnipotent alone being able to put forth an arm all- 
powerful to save. 

For a healthy body, costly garments, and a goodly 
hal)itation he compensates by ingrafting the system 
with the germs of disease, which shall only die out of 
the being with the dissolution of the mortal frame. 
Not until it shall have been resolved back to earth 
and have received her purifying process shall there be 



2 54 WELDED LINKS. 

exterminated from it the marks and effects of this 
unmitifjated, unrelentins: destrover. In exchanoe for 
purple and satin, he clothes his devotee with rags, if 
so be he even leaves rags with which to clothe. For 
comfortable habitations, he turns out his bloated and 
disfigured subject to lie down with the swine (the 
companions with which his majesty, in a more ancient 
time, took his bath in the sea). Would to God he 
had not resurrected himself from the ocean's briny- 
depths ! The victim of alcohol becomes prodigal of 
all that is endearing in life or of good repute. The 
affections of wife, the love of children, the prayers of 
parents, the tears of idolized sisters, to him arc as 
naught. Yea, the lessons of Calvary, its crown of 
thorns, the bleeding side of the Crucified, the bitter 
groans and sweat in the garden, the midnight prayers 
in Gethsemane, and the last prayer of the self-sacri- 
ficing, anointed One (" Father, forgive them ; they 
know not what they do "), to them who tarry long at 
the wine, are as " pearls cast before swine." 



"WINE IS A MOCKER." 255 

For mechanical, medicinal, scientific, and art pur- 
poses spirituous liquors have their righteous uses, 
and are good gifts to men. The deadly night- 
shade, arsenic, and strychnine have their righteous 
uses to cure diseases as fatal as themselves could 
inflict. But pray what sensible modern belle of 
society would think for a moment of offering to 
her sweatheart a decoction of strychnine to enliven 
his spirits for an evening's entertainment ? Or 
what judicious mother would venture to give to 
her daughter a dose of arsenic to improve her 
complexion and give brilliancy to the eyes? Or 
who would, on New Year's day, present to their 
guests a libation of opium or of nightshade ? 
That might be done if there were no law against 
it, and the host did not desire to receive his guest 
on the return of the next festive occasion. Yet 
these are not more dire in their effects than the 
glass of wine with which fond mothers permit 
their children to toy. 



256 WELDED LINKS. 

The former speedily kills, and throws the pall 
of death over its victim ere it degrades. The 
latter leads on by a thousand snares to inev- 
itable ruin and disgrace. Says the Rev. New- 
man Hall of London, a gentleman of high social 
standing, marked ability, scholastic manners and 
acquirements: 'The Church of England within 
the last three years has lost in membership by 
drunkenness thirty thousand." With this fact star- 
ing the clergy in the face, the church sanctions 
the use of the first rounds in the ladder to drunk- 
enness by proffering fermented wine to the lip of 
the communicant in memory of the spilt blood of 
Christ. There should be an act of legislature in 
each State requiring manufacturers and dealers to 
label their casks, flasks, demijohns, and bottles of 
champagne, whiskey, and brandy, as are other less 
destructive articles of merchandise, with the word 
" Poison" in legible characters. The local authorities 
protect the public against the contagious disease 



"WINE IS A MOCKER." 257 

of the leper. The infectious disease of small-pox 
is regarded of sufficient moment to be l)iouo;ht 
under the jurisprudence of municipal authority, while 
the contagion with which spirituous liquors is sweep- 
ing down with a mighty swath of death thousands 
yearly to an untimely and dishonored grave is rocked 
with safety in its infectious cradle by the silence 
of executive authority. The devastating influence 
with which alcohol is sweeping like a mighty holo- 
caust over the fair land, the debauchery and drunk- 
enness of young men in the various grades of 
society is attributable in a great measure to the 
license that ladies give to its abominable use as a 
beverage. Adam, was an ungallant bridegroom ; 
but I have no doubt he had occasion, as have 
modern husbands, to stand unveiled in the pres- 
ence of God, and say. "The woman that 
Tliou gavest me, she tempted me." I doubt not 
Eve, like her modern sisters, was comely, and 



258 WELDED LINKS. 

there was some excuse then as now for Adam's 
shirking responsibility. 

How many wine-bibbers would there be to-day 
if ladies would invariably ignore its use, and re- 
fuse to receive the attentions of those who should 
quaff its nectar ? Why, it would not be one year 
before grog-shops would be a thing of the past, 
and drinking would be as unpopular and less 
common than employees making appropriations for 
their own use from the government's till. Barley, 
wheat, and corn would find their uses in bread, 
and the product of the vine would be appropriated 
to its proper use. The moral influence that ladies 
could exert in staying the tidal wave of drunken- 
ness that is sweeping back to the ocean of death 
the brightest hopes of this promising land would 
be far more powerful to save than is the allied 
power of alcohol to destroy ; even were its force 
quadrupled an hundredfold, it would then fall 
powerless before the irresistible influence of woman. 



"WINE IS A MOCKER." 259 

The husband, father, brother, or lov^er, though they 
may be vahant in battle, and of heart impervious 
to fear, yet of all creatures which God has created 
they are the weakest, when the battle is waged 
against the loving affections of the woman whom 
they adore. They are led by her, yield to her, 
and obey her loving mandates. The only fortifi- 
cations that guard the domestic circle and render 
it secure are the bulwarks of love, and its ram- 
parts are the welcoming smile, the cheering word, 
kindly attentions, and the tender caress. Ladies, 
these are the weapons with which God your Father 
has panoplied your soul and walled you round ; 
they are the flaming swords which are to keep out 
from your eartlily elysium discord and drunkenness, 
with the gloomy train of its horrid consequences. 

These womanly graces and tributes of love are the 
anathemas before whose divine presence the evil 
spirit embodied in alcohol will coweringly hide away 
into the shades of forgetfulness, leaving you in full 



26o WELDED LINKS. 

possession of the mansion of love of which its owner 
had accounted you its worthy occupant. 

In arraigning the drunkard for trial before the tri- 
bunal of an impartial judgment, while we do not 
altogether exonerate the culprit, still we charge in a 
great measure the responsibility of the crime upon 
the indifference with which ladies regard the foul 
offence which steals upon its victim while he is yet 
unaware. 

In the economy with which God has provided for 
the government of mankind lie has so ordained 
that the stronger should be sustained, influenced, gov- 
erned, and controlled by the weaker. Woman, by the 
delicacy of her persuasion, by her example and affec- 
tionate nature, has from the beginning of time been 
the emperor of man. While he courts lier favor, he 
bowsather mandates, and becomes her willincf, uncon 
scious slave. She rules his heart, sways his judgment, 
and controls his actions, in the savao^e as in the civil 
ized breast. In the very heat of his passion she 



"WINE IS A MOCKER." 261 

looks upon him, and the hand raised in wrath to slay 
falls powerless at his side. As examples of these 
facts, I quote the name of the Queen of the North 
American Indians, Pocahontas, and the unlettered 
girl of France, Joan of Arc. 

Where is the stalwart heart so stout 

But that to woman bows? 
Or where the will, howe'er so bent, 
But by the power of woman lent, 
On her high, holy mission sent, 

Finds a redeeming clause? 

But what shall be said for the moral status of those 
in authority, who, for the paltry sum of a few dollars 
added to the coffers of a city treasury, will legalize 
the crime of dealing out to human l)eings potations 
of distilled death and swift destruction, and flaunt its 
glaring, high-handed crimes even under the shadows 
of the sanctuary, whose chiming bells and stalwart 
towers proclaim, " Holiness to the Lord, and o-ood- 
will to men." Are these the guardians of the peace 



262 WELDED LINKS. 

and the executors of the municipal government? 
For what, then, is there to hope ? Is thegov^ernmcnt 
in the hands of a thoughtless rabble on election days ? 
Where are the vast army of church-members, who 
subscribe in their tenets of faith to orderliness and 
sobriety ? Where are the myriads of order-loving 
citizens, whose ballot should be cast in favor of the 
best interests of the people at large ? Does familiar- 
ity with crime render it less obnoxious to them, and 
the stench of its filthiness less unsavory, that they 
roll it as a sweet morsel under their tongue, while 
they cry, "A little more sleep," that they may with- 
hold their hands from the ballot which shall close 
these gates of hell, and the entrance to the jaws of 
death ? 

When God shall gather up his jewels, how hardly 
shall these order-loving, responsibility-shirking, 
church-going citizens be saved ? As the vast armv 
of inebriates pass in review before His throne, will 
not the Lord of the harvest of tares and wheat say 



WINE IS A MOCKER." 26 



v> 



to unrighteous voters : Inasmueh as ye failed to pre- 
serve tlie sanctity of your high trust, and save these 
men, by your ballot, from the terrible curse which 
has befallen them, "ye have done it unto Me." As 
terrible as was the fate that befell Sodom and Gomor- 
rah, shall it not be " more tolerable for them in the 
day of judgment than for these"? 

The people of to-day are enlightened, and liefore 
Heaven's high tribunal they cannot put in the plea 
of ignorance. The influence of the earnest prayers 
and executive acting of high-minded, noble-hearted 
women have closed the doors of thousands of rum- 
shops from Maine to the Pacific ; and the ballots of 
the stronger sex have opened up again these infamous 
sluice-ways to crime, poverty, shame, and an ignomin- 
ious death. What is the result ? Riotous excesses 
reel their putrescent forms where thrift and happiness 
had assumed their honored sway ; homes are laid waste 
of love and affection. 

Drunkenness, with its squalid train of crimes, 



264 WELDED LINKS. 

Stalks boldly forth to cast their darkening shadows 
on the horizon of our beloved land. There is more 
potency of hell in spirituous and malt liquors than 
have been reserved for all the other forces of dam- 
nation wiih which sin has sought to drag humanity 
down to perdition. Its effects are to cripple the 
capacities of the intellect, palsy the powers of the 
soul, and demoralize the functions of the physical 
system. It transforms the image of God in man 
into a fiend, and imbrutes those who indulge in its 
hellish nectar. According to the census of the 
Internal Revenue reports, it is costing our people a 
yearly expenditure of over one billion five hundred 
million dollars. It is making yearly one hundred 
and thirtv thousand confirmed drunkards, and send- 
ing sixty thousand to drunkards' graves, and reduc- 
ing to beggar)' two hundred thousand children. It 
is sending yearly to prison two hundred thousand 
persons. Is not this report sufficient to engage the 
interest of every philanthropist, and secure the at- 



" WINK IS A MOCKI'U." 



tc'iUion of c'\'cM'\' lover of lumumilv:^ 'Ilic diiinkaul 
allciiiptiniL:, to rclonn is liij,luini; a ballK- such as only 
a God nii|Lilil cwpcct to win. In his hiiolitcsl nio- 
nuaits, when [\\v \irlory seems neailv won, how ollen 
do we see him, Hke (he sow that was washed, icluin 
to liis wallowin;; in the miic. () \-ouni^ man! as Non 
vahie happiness, lionor, and maidiood ; as von eheiish 
lier to whom you have <;i\'en \'oui- hiail's hohesl ;dTec- 
tions ; as you regard the memor\' of lier who Liave 
you l)irth, and hy \'our hopes of immort.d hhss. for- 
swear t liv soul against, the inloxieal iuLi, enp. and for 
the henelil ol those who shall eomi' altei' you, ^wcai 
your anathemas forever a^yainst it, lest it shall he the 
" Brid<rc of Si^-Jis" ovcm- \vhieh xonr fi lends shall 
mourn \'our helpless and lost eondition. 

() j)rou(l and exalted ni;m to whom the govern- 
ment has entrusted, hy reason of the i)allol, the Liuar- 
dianship of the best interests of the eountrv, the haj)- 
piness of tiie |)eople, and the- sanetitv of the domestic 
circle ! if the i i^hteous shall scarcely i)e saved, how 



266 WELDED LINKS. 

can you, who have given aid to the liquor traffic, 
expect to escape the condemnation of Heaven ? 
What subterfuge shall have power to hide you from 
the condemning judgment of your own soul, in the 
day when the spirits of men shall stand undressed 
before the tribunal of their own conscience and the 
searching eye of an impartial God ? 



HAVE REVELATIONS CEASED? 26? 



\ Mi 



HAVE REVELATIONS CEASED? 

"HE cadences from time past, the inspirations 
^.rr^^ of the present, the mutterino^s and orolden 
W^ glimmerings of tlie future, answer, with in- 
I disputable, knowledge-laden tongues, No ! 

Great as may have been the ages of the past, 
science, with its imperial, glittering dawn of the 
present unfolding of truth, casting its aurora high 
o'er the mountain-tops of a false theology and into 
the cavern-vaults of superstition, responds : There 
Cometh other revelations, whose record shall be 
greater than that which time has rolled back on the 
scroll of the past. 

The pioneers of intellectual, spiritual, and moral 
development, who have long since passed into the 
eternity of ages, have but broken up the fallow- 



268 WELDED LINKS. 

ground for a greater advancement, wherein is hidden 
the more precious germs of truth, to be followed 
again by those on whom the dispensation of revela- 
tion shall have diffused a more glorious awakening. 
The tall oaks of superstition, planted by the hand 
groping in darkness, still seeking after light, are 
one by one being uprooted by the flaming sword 
of truth issuing from the Eden of divine revelation. 
Witchcraft and bigotry have been supplanted by 
modern intelligence. The law of cause and effect 
has consigned to a resurrectionless tomb the super- 
stitions of the ancients. Intolerance and religious 
persecutions have given way to a liberal and 
consistent faith. While God the Father, God the 
Son, and God the Holy Ghost are each closely 
allied to humanity, and see us not afar off, neither 
do we look at them as through a "glass, darkly," 
but behold them " face to face," through the mar- 
velous tissues of nature's handiworks. " In His 
own image created He man, male and female 



HAVE REVELATIONS CEASED? 269 

created He them ;" and the Hfe or spirit which they 
inherit, came it not from the breath of His own 
nostrils, thereby having created humanity as heirship 
to a most royal knighthood, of which God the 
Father is the Grand Potentate, and of which each 
and every member is approximating a glorious ulti- 
matum in the family of God, through the revelations 
of coming ages ? God the Father (eternal Spirit, 
and first great cause), God the Son (as manifested 
in humanity), and God the Holy Ghost (the soul's 
sweet Comforter) must forever remain in communion 
together ; and hence revelations from Father to 
child must exist, until in the culmination of ages 
they shall inhabit one council-chamber together. 
The laborers, animate and inanimate, are bursting the 
charnel-houses wherein are imprisoned famishing 
souls, hungering for more light ; and Revelation, clad 
in imperial robes, fresh from the hand of the In- 
finite, is proclaiming, " Peace on earth, good-will to 
men." 



270 WELDED LINKS. 

The zephyrs waft the glad tidings from the four 
winds of heaven. 

The gentle dews and falling rain, with tears of 

sparkling gladness, tell anew the revelation of love. 

Each warbling songster is but a heaven-ordained 

'minister, having received the rite of priesthood to 

sing the songs of universal praise. 

Each flower which lifts its face to greet the morn- 
mo: sun tells the beneficence of that power which 
creates in love, and despoils but to resurrect in 
greater glory. 

Each trembling blade of grass points to the eter- 
nal dome from whence naught but goodness flows. 
Each murmuring brook and bejewelcd cascade sigh 
the requiem of a somber-clad priesthood, and wel- 
come in, as they wind on with musical flow to the 
sea, the coming era of hope and intellectual ad- 
vancement, in which the light of science and spiritu- 
ality reveal the rich developments of a higher revela- 
tion, wherein is seen the manifest wisdom of that 



HAVE REVELATIONS CEASED? 2/1 

universal law of love which creates in wondrous har- 
mony the mighty concourse of heavenly worlds, and 
fits them up as habitations for the soul on which the 
signet of immortality has been stamped and the in- 
dex-finger of eternal progression has affixed its seal. 
" God manifest in the flesh " is seen in the kindling 
emotion of intellectuality, as it radiates the sparkling 
eye, and reflects itself in the changing countenance, 
giving expression to the language of thought ere the 
lips had fashioned its utterance. In acts of kindly 
benevolence, which give words of cheer to the dis- 
consolate, or smooth a care from the fuirowed l)row 
of age, or gives encouragement to the young aspirant 
as he struggles up the rocky cliffs in his ])ursuit after 
the golden grain scattered here and there from the 
ripened sheaves of a more advanced harvest, as in 
every act of devotion in which the developing soul 
seeks after light from the fountains of truth, may be 
seen '' God manifest in the flesh." 

It is not necessary to go to Jerusalem to receive 



2/2 WELDED LINKS. 

fresh sources of inspiration or revelation, nor yet to 
Mount Horeb or Pisgah, nor to the inner temple, 
where rested the ark of the covenant, in which were 
deposited the tablets of stone (the commandments 
of the Jewish dispensation); but to that inner sanc- 
tuary of the human soul wherein the vulture's 
eye hath not seen, nor the lion's whelps trod- 
den ;" w4iere God takes up His habitation with 
humanity ; where the tables are ever spread in the 
living, pulsating temple, ready to receive the com- 
mandments and dispensations of revelation which the 
Omniscient is ever inscribing upon His living tablets. 
Here is a higher priesthood than was Moses or 
Aaron — a priesthood which not only has viewed the 
promised land, but has fitted it up for our habitation, 
and is now journeying with us, "a pillar of cloud by 
day and a pillar of fire by night ;" and He will surely 
pass with us safely through the Red Sea and the 
wilderness of doubt, making sure our passport to the 
sumnier-land, where our triumphant souls shall bask 



HAVE REVELATIONS CEASED? 273 

in the sunshine of eternal truth, and our feet walk 
the fields ever fresh with the budding blossoms, whose 
fruit withereth not nor perisheth, but remains an 
•eternal inheritance for the healing of the nations. 
Should time complete its rounds of evolutions, and 
the scroll of its record be deposited only in the 
archives of eternity, and there should be no more 
day nor night, still would the dawning day of new 
and perpetual revelation be the light before which 
all present luminaries would pale in their luster, and 
with angel hosts ascribe the brightness of everlasting 
glory to Him "who is the way, the truth, and the 
life," who from everlasting to everlasting is the ever- 
present revelation of "good-will to men." Every 
ray of science which sends its divergent flashes of 
light athwart the intellectual sky, giving new sources 
of delight to the raptured soul, is but another reve- 
lation from Jehovah sent out as a winofcd messensrer 
of love from the great storehouse of treasures resting 



2 74 WELDED LINKS. 

in the cabinet of Infinity, every one of which is a 
link binding man more closely to God. 

Through revelation we clasp hands with the In- 
finite, and as a child look trustingly and reverently 
into the face of our Father. How joyfully we trace 
His footsteps in the ages of the past, the music of 
the spheres having kept time to His footfalls ! How 
eagerly we grasp the hand He so lovingly extends, 
and through communion with Him as manifested 
in tlie revelations of His works, hold counsel with 
cherubs and seraphs who sung their anthems at cre- 
ation's early dawn. Each sea-shell cloistered in 
ocean's briny depths has, in the drapery of its varie- 
gated colorings, fresh developments of a wondrous 
revelation, and clearly shows on its canvas-shell the 
delicate tracings of an unrivaled Artist. The tiny 
insect, with its meager thread of life, artistically and 
successfully building up its temple from the depths 
of ocean to the crest of its billowy wave, is but 
planting on coral reef another expression of divine 



HAVE REVELATIONS CEASED? 275 

revelation. The mountains as they lift their for- 
midable heights, piercing the vaults of the eternal 
blue, resting their heads on the bosom of the sky, 
as if to approach nearer to the council-chambers of 
Infinity, that they might hear the more secret con- 
clave thereof, are but another chapter in which is 
penciled by the finger of Jehovah the teachings of 
His incomparable law. 

The circling rounds of ages past have inscribed 
on their tablets as indelibly as were the command- 
ments on the mount the record of their history, and 
the manifold coverings wove in the loom of in- 
calculable ages, wrapped and interlaced over and 
around the strong frame-work of earth, are but the 
canvas sheets upon whose warp and woof the shuttle 
of time has written in its thread-work the outgoings 
and incomings of the footprints of Omnipotence ; un- 
til by His munificent power He has brought order 
out of chaos, and has caused the barren sands to blos- 
som as the rose. Great and incomparable as He is 



2']^:) WELDED LINKS. 

in the majesty of His law and love, still He claims 
kinship to earth and to the inhabitants thereof; hold- 
ing them in the hollow of His hand, fanning them 
with the breath of His nostrils, and feeding them from 
His sumptuous-spread tables. The nations lying la- 
tent in the womb of future ages will read from chap- 
ters of earth and rock our record, as we now read the 
mysterious history of the peoples which have pre- 
ceded us. Herculaneum, now unveiling herself in 
the confines of her long-imprisoned tomb, is but giv- 
ing to us a fresh revelation of the wondrous past ; and 
the cloistered womb of earth, now made cavernous by 
the miner's hand, is lifting the veil from the temple 
where God had hid away earth's costliest treasures. 

So science, which is but another name for revela- 
tion, is constantly unfolding to our vision the mys- 
teries of God's marvelous storehouse, until, through 
the agency of revelation, the trinity of intelligence 
(God, man, and angels) shall sit down and hold sweet 
counsel together. In the seething tempest which 



HAVE REVELATIONS CEASED? 2"] -J 

shakes to the very center the superstructure of one's 
being the heart Hfts its complainings to the Infinite; 
and though no wail may escape the compressed lips, 
yet a smothered sigh of anguish pierces the vaults 
of heaven, unbars the tabernacle where dwells the 
Source of all compassion, and angels, ever in sympa- 
thy with the tender heart of Jehovah, come in re- 
sponse to the call, which binds all intelligence into 
one great family of unity, to offer ministrations of 
condolence and impart their sustaining strength ; and 
man, linking hands with the angels, is enabled to walk 
in the dignity of his manhood, upright in the presence 
of his God. Though the tempest shall howl ever 
so fierce, still, behind the muttering thunder of a 
frowning Sinai, watching the swaying tempest, hold- 
ing in His hand the forked lightning which pierces 
the spirit, sits a loving Father directing the storm ; 
and in the deep sea-soundings of the soul, above the 
roar of the tempest, may be heard, as of yore, the 
" Master's" voice, bidding the storm in the lieart of 



2/8 WELDED LINKS. 

the tempest-tossed mariner " be still." The roaring 
cataract which bears the spirit down to the whirlpool 
of despair hears His voice ; and the billowy waves^ 
rearing their frowning crests mountain-high, behold 
His face, and in abashment backward roll and pil- 
low themselves on the sobbing bosom of the deep. 
The winds, rending into shreds the net-work of the 
soul, see the Divine Presence, and fold themselves in 
the shrouds of heaven ; w^hile the nearly-wrecked mar- 
iner, loosed from his moorings, — like the gigantic ice- 
berg of the north, borne down to the Gulf Stream, 
there to be lapped up by the rays of a tropical sun — 
looks trustingly into the Master's assuring face, and 
walks the swelling breast of sorrow's wave unharmed, 
secure in the panoply of angels. 

A saving Christ walks the waves of Galilee in 
humanity's stricken heart to-day, as boldly as He did 
in the days of a sinking Peter; Moses and Elias are 
now in as close proximity to earth as wiien they 
were seen in transfiguration on the mount ; and 



HAVE REVELATIONS CEASED? 279 

God spoke not more audibly to Adam in tlie garden 
than He calls to man in this the nineteenth century ; 
while angels, in their divine mission, sent out by the 
Father, walk the earth as really as did the three with 
whom Abraham conversed ; and in the prophetic 
teachings of the " Wise Men" of to-day the expres- 
sions of divine will are as clearly manifest as they 
were in the earlier revelations given to John on the 
Isle of Patmos. The pool of Siloam touched by the 
healine virtues of the Eternal is as efficacious to 
cleanse the leprous spots as were its troubled waters 
when beholdinjr in the embodiment of man that 
power which called the dead into life and caused 
the scales to fall from eyes hitherto shut out from 
the light of day. 

The conceptions of the imagination which the in- 
genuity of man has reduced to science and practice, 
in which are found symmetry of form, elegance of 
proportions, and the perfection of beauty, is but 
another revelation of divine will. The schedules 



28o WELDED LINKS. 

from which men draw their designs are spread out 
on earth and sky, while Infinity works from the 
limitless canvas-sheet of His own imagery. From 
time to time He drops a link to earth, by which the 
ingenious spirit of man unravels the beauteous mys- 
tery, and with an admiration akin to worship, pauses 
and pays profound homage to that which Jehovah 
hath touched ; He distills and draws unto Himself by 
the magnetic power of His will from the subtle prin- 
ciples of earth and air the properties with which to 
paint the sunbeam and to color the rose. 

The gray of ocean and the emerald green of forest 
and meadow land were inwoven by the chemical 
shuttle of divine art. The pencil and brush which 
decorare with multiplicity of pictures the plumage 
of the feathered tribe, are weilded by Him whose 
goodness lets not a sparrow fall to the ground with- 
out His notice. 

The landscape of hills, plains, mountains, and 
valleys was sculptured by the artistic chisel of In- 



HAVE REVELATIONS CEASED? 28 1 

flexible Will. A place for the rivers, oceans, and 
seas was inlaid by the diamond edge of thought, 
while their waters were made soluble by the knead- 
ing of God's plastic hand. 

The heavens were builded in their magnificent 
splendor by the architectural design of Supremacy, and 
their ever-changing, floating drapery, tinted with un- 
rivaled colors, weaving themselves into fantastic shapes 
and forms, was the study of Nature's Upholsterer. 
The conceptions of Raphael and the wild imagery of 
Dore were but the felt influences upon their sensi- 
tive brains of a reflection of the electro-magnetic 
thought of God, breathed upon their souls as an in- 
spiration, and by them transferred to the canvas — a 
mere copy of divine art. 

The sublime pictures traced by the poet's fancy, 
the dreams of Milton, the transition of Dante's fervid 
imaginings, like the awful scenes portrayed by John 
on the Isle of Patmos, were but emanations from 
God, with which they had come en rapport. The 



282 WELDED LINKS. 

thought on which the orator takes his loftiest flight, 
clothing his conceptions with figures whose touch 
burns into the soul, is but a glimmer of an expres- 
sion from the endless canvas-sheet with which the 
Almighty wraps His Majesty. 



EPITAPH. 



28 



'a^k 




EPITAPH. 

IS not for mc to say wherefore or how 
God planned the past, the future, and the 

now ; 
'Tis not for me to say whieh way is best, — 

God planned the sorrow and he planned 
the rest. 

So if 'tis weal or if 'tis woe, I know 

God s changeless love hath fixed it so. 



MAXIM. 

To use wisely the things we have, 

Bestowing benefactions on those who need our aid, 

Is fulfilling God's hio^hest law to man. 



284 WELDED LINKS. 



TWO ANGELS. 



V»lfe. 



^ ■ 



wo angels met in an arbored way : 
One brought hope, and one dismay ; 
•^ One brought a sword and flaming fire 
Of awful wrath and dreadful ire. 

Hope came, with voice of sweetest song 
With welcome theme her notes prolong : 
Ho ! ever)' man of every clime, 
Come to my banqueting of wine. 

No wrath, nor sword, nor flaming fire, 
Nor vengeful God w^ith dreadful ire, 
No dark abode with fearful fate. 
The weary ones from earth await. 



TWO ANGELS. 285 

Go see )'on stream, a river clear, 
And see yon hills as they appear ; 
See foliage and shrub and flower, 
See questered dell and arbored bower. 

See palaces so wondrous fair, 
And mansions, too, both rich and rare ; 
See trellised vine of richest bloom, 
And rarest flowers of sweet perfume. 

See schools of art and of design. 
See men and angels in their prime, 
Each working out the latest plan 
Of good to God or good to man. 

Hear song of bird and waterfall. 
And children answering children's call 
This, this is heaven, not far away 
(The angel Hope illumed the way) ; 
Tis free, 'tis free for all. 



286 WELDED LINKS. 



GOD. 




OD speaks to us in shrub and flower, 
In dewdrop and in teeming shower, 
And shows the wonder of His grace 
Prefaced in nature's lovely face. 
I worship Him, this God divine. 
In shrub and flower and tender vine ; 
I hear Him in the wildest roar 
As thunders crash from shore to shore. 

I see Him in the trackless sky. 
Whence million orbs round millions fly ; 
So far, so near, yet God abounds 
In all the circling worlds around. 



GOD. 287 

His presence fills the bounds of space, 
His power holds might)' worlds in place ? 
He speaks, the heavens obey His will, 
And rairins: seas are calm and still. 



2SS AVELDED LINKS. 



TIMELY WISDOM. 

HY rowers have brought thee into great 
[j^jpl waters. Learn, I pray thee, this piece of 
timely wisdom. Th)' rowers have brought 
thee into no quiet waters ; the)' have found thee 
no harbor of delight ; shall the)' an)' longer be 
thy rowers? Do this one thing to thine own soul if 
thou hast any sense left or any pity on thyself: Cry 
out against those who are ruining thee. Now. say, I 
will go no further with these rowers. God helping 
me, the helm shall be reversed. If such be thy 
resolve, and the Great Pilot shall come to th)' help, 
thou wilt never drink again of the accursed cup, and 
thou wilt shun the compan)' which has lured thee to 



TIMELY WISDOM. 289 

thy present wretchedness. Oh, that the spirit of the 

Lord may help thee to break the oars and cast the 

rowers into the sea. 

Anon. 



290 WELDED LINKS. 




MEMORY. 

'EMORY is the canvas sheet of the soul, upon 

which is outspread an imperishable panorama 

■71^^ \ of all the devices which the mind has conjectured 

or the spirit conceived. It is the talisman of the 
past, and the arbiter whose tribunal shall justly adjudge 
the unfoldings of the great scroll of life. The paint of 
excuse, mixed with the oil of repentance and the grief of 
despair, may not obliterate one trace which the brush 
of thought has depicted on this magnetic scroll. 
These cartoons are as varied as have been the flights of 
thought, the conceptions of imaginations, the acts of 
life, or the pictures presented in the spiritual, intellectual, 
moral, affectional, or physical nature of human experi- 



MEMORY. 291 

ence. Memory takes the canvas sheet of the soul fresh 
from nature's own hand, and writes upon its surface the 
sentiments and passions of the human heart ; she unrolls 
her canvas sheet, on which earth and sky are painted, 
so that the mind can examine all the hues and forms 
of sensible things in its impression of the past. She 
sends her telegrams beyond the tomb, and brings us 
messages from eternity, from those whom we first loved, 
in their happiest moods and sweetest expressions. She 
sees them rise above the agonies of dissolution, and 
gives us back our cherished ones in the loveliest forms 
they wore. She sends her messages back to the green 
of her earliest gambols, and, pushing her electric wires 
through the \ault, bridges over the boundary of time 
and brings light from eternity. She triumphs on the 
wings of faith, and paints a roadway to glory. Uniting 
her canvas with that of past ages, she scales the ladder 
of history and searches the pages of its unfoldings, in- 



292 WELDED LINKS. 

weaving their record into her own sublime canvas. The 
cobwebs of time may dim its texture and throw a shadow 
over its pictures, but the brush of eternity shall make 
radiant every cartoon upon its surface, and bring them 
out with renewed splendor. Memory shall be the man- 
sion through which the disenthralled spirit may roam at 
will, gathering fresh blossoms from the germs of thought 
which budded on the tree of life, to reap their full 
fruition in the sunshine of immortality. Being e7i rappoi't 
with those who have passed on ages before, she links 
the canvas of mortalit)' to that of celestial order and 
weaves the fabric of time and that of etcrnit)- into one 
scroll, while she follows rapidly the unfoldings of the 
great mystical cable of eternity, as God imlooses the 
coils from the hand of His Imperial Majesty, giving to 
man the scope of the past, present, and future as a field 
for his explorations. In this " house of many mansions" 
its treasures shall forever multiply, imparting to trans- 



MEMORY. 293 

lated souls a restful labor which shall yield a harvest of 
perpetual joys and an eternity of new delights. Every 
being- who lives, is his or her own master mechanic, build- 
ing up from the base of the soul a furnished habitation 
which shall survive the wastes of time, and, rising above 
the dissolution of the mortal, shall rear its ethereal tem- 
ple to the honor of immortal glory or the threatening 
danger of humiliation and desoair. 



294 WELDED LINKS. 



THE WIND THAT BLOWS, THAT WIND 

IS BEST. 



f^^ HIGH EVER way the wind doth blow 



,jlk=a^l^ Some heart is cflad to have it so ; 

^fsS) Then blow it east or blow it west, 

The wind that blows, that wind is best. 
Afj' little craft sails not alone ; 
A thousand fleets on every zone 
Are out upon a thousand seas ; 
And what for me were favoring breeze 
Miofht dash another, with the shock 
Of doom, upon some hidden rock. 
And so I do not dare to pray 
For winds to waft me on my way, 



THE WIND THAT BLOWS, THAT WIND IS BEST. 295 

But leave it to a Higher Will 

To stay or speed me. trusting still 

That all is well, and sure that He 

Who launched my bark will sail with me 

Through storm and calm, and will not fail, 

Whatever breezes may prevail, 

To land me, every peril past. 

Within His sheltering heaven at last. 

Then whatever wind doth blow 

Some heart is glad to have it so ; 

And blow it east or blow it west, 

The wind that blows, that w^ind is best. 



296 WELDED LINKS. 



INTRODUCTORY REMARKS AT MEMO- 
RIAL SERVICE OF FRANCES E. WIL- 
LARD, HELD IN BROWN MEMORIAL 
CHURCH, SYRACUSE, N. Y., MARCH 10, 
1898. 

?R^it GREAT leader has fallen ; like a true 
|)j^^^ soldier, fallen at her post in the midst of the 
battle. Our nation mourns, the islands of the 
sea weep. Every civilized and semi-civilized 
nation of the earth laments, as do we, our 
Frances E. Willard gone. We meet here this even- 
ing with stricken hearts and bowed heads to da 
honor to her, the noblest, mightiest woman whom God 
has raised up to do valiant service in His name for 



INTRODUCTORY REMARKS AT MEMORIAL SERVICE. 297 

the world's betterment, and she has builded for herself 
in the hearts of humanity a monument more enduring 
than any statue ever reared by mortal hands to hero, 
patriot, or statesman ; and well it may be said of her 
in words of Sacred Writ : " She hath ceased from her 
labors, and her works do follow her." 



WELDED LINKS. 



OPINIONS OF THE PRESS. 

Mrs. P. Annetta Peckham, a well-known and successful lecturer 
on temperance, has issued, acting as her own publisher, a volume 
of her poems entitled " Welded Links." The verses cover a wide 
range of social, domestic, and religious subjects. — Brooklyn Daily 
Eagle. 

" Welded I>inks." — The volume is one that can be read with 
interest. — Brooklyn Daily Times. 

"Welded Links." — The author, P. Annetta Peckham, has for 
a long time been engaged in temperance work, and has done 
good service in that cause. Those who buy and peruse this pretty 
and well-printed volume may be sure of getting a satisfactory re- 
turn for their money. — The Christian Advocate, New York. 

"Welded Links." — Mrs. P. Annetta Peckham, who is distin- 
guished as an earnest advocate of temperance, has published a 
volume of her poems under the above title. They are marked 
by elevated sentiment and a flowing style of versification. — The 
Observer, New York. 

" Welded Links." — The author of this volume is well known 
throughout the country as an earnest and effective temperance 
lecturer. The poems evince a mind of high imaginative power, 
combined with aptness and beauty of expression. — New York 
Weekly Witness. 

" Welded Links." — The poems are on a wide variety of sub- 
jects. They are unexceptionable in sentiment and good in expres- 
sion. They will doubtless bring comfort to many a heart. — The 
Examiner, New York. 



"Welded Links." By P. Annetta Peckham. — The poems 
cover a wide range of thought and sentiment, touching many 
phases of human experience and many moods of contemplation. 
It can thus scarcely fail to find a welcome in many, homes, where 
its truths and fancies may make it an ever-welcome guest. — Detroit 
Tribune. 

" Welded Links." — We find in it many elevated poetical sen- 
timents and fancies. — l7iterior^ Chicago. 

"Welded Links." — The book is very elegant and beautiful 
mechanically, as befits the contents. The poems show the handi- 
work of a real artist, and have the touch of true poetic fire. — Clii- 
^ago Journal. 

"Welded Links " by P. Annetta Peckham,isa very creditable 
collection of poems. They are the natural expression of a clear 
intellect raised above narrow prejudices, and of a noble heart 
beating in sympathy with the oppressed and suffering. The prob- 
lems of existence, the relations of man to God and to his fellow- 
man, are treated with a bold hand. Vigor and elevation of thought 
are the most striking elements of the poems. — Chicago Times. 

"Welded Links." By P. Annetta Peckham. — The poems 
are strong and vigorous, and bear the marks of freedom of touch 
and originality, and display a healthful and tender sympathywith 
nature and with human destiny. — Inter-Ocean, Chicago. 

A neat volume of sweet poems, entitled " Welded Links." A 
promising book, which all will find pleasure and profit in perusing. 
— Alliance, . Chicago. 

"Welded Links." — The volume is elegant in its mechanical 
execution, chaste in tone, refined in sentiment, and varied in the 
subjects treated upon. Those of a metaphysical nature are han- 
dled in a most searching and scanning manner, while those of 
sentiment and the affections, the author weaves a fabric of soul 
texture and clothes her ideals in regal garb. The book will be an 
additional charm to the present large stock of polite literature. — 
JVew Age, San Francisco. 



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